


Altea Airlines

by wertdifferenz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airline AU, Alternate Universe - Flight Attendants, Alternate Universe - Pilot, Flight attendant AU, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, alternate universe - airline, alternate universe - steward, pilot AU, steward au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 22,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wertdifferenz/pseuds/wertdifferenz
Summary: Keith and Lance work at Altea Airlines. Watch how they grow closer and closer with every flight.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 126





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for my Instagram account. 
> 
> Follow [my Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/wertdifferenz.art/) and get a lot more stories every week!

The alarm on his phone rings him out of a dream full of chocolate-chip pancakes and banana-milkshakes, a remnant from last nights unhealthy dinner-episode. Keith curses Shiro and his ability to make him do literally anything, especially if it includes pancakes, even at ten in the evening with the early shift in his neck. 

Even though he feels a bit like dying, he gets up and walks straight into the bathroom for a cold shower. Nothing wakes him quicker as that nice, icy water which is only rivaled by Kosmo coughing up something weird in the middle of his bedroom. 

After the shower Keith feels somewhat human, even if the cursed clock in his bathroom says something along the lines of half past four. In the morning. Because scheduling hates him. 

Not even Kosmo is up yet, sleeping soundly in his little doggy house at the far end of the living room, so Keith makes sure to close the door when he starts rummaging through the kitchen. His stomach can‘t stomach a lot of food so early, so he keeps it simple with some black coffee and a quick sandwich that he‘ll eat in the car. 

One would debate now if Keith is a good dog owner by not taking Kosmo out on a walk before his duty, but for the husky who has a mind on his own it seems to verge on animal abuse to drag him along the neighborhood in the crack dawn of the morning. Keith knows by now that this dog will under no circumstances go out before eight and his stomach full of food, and if Keith even looks at the leash hanging from the door, Kosmo will teleport himself someplace Keith can‘t find him. 

He must be somewhere in the flat, but in the last three months living here, Keith did not manage to find him once during those episodes. It was logical, or basically the only option, to get a dog sitter to take care of that problem. 

So, Keith lets the dog sleep and drinks his first coffee of many that day. He‘s not quite sure where he‘s flying today, since he didn‘t bother to look at more than just the check in time, but at least he knows that he has a point-to-point flight, meaning that he will get home in the afternoon. He can walk Kosmo then. Like the good dog owner he pretends to be. 

On the other side of the thin wall, Shiro‘s shower springs to life. He‘s got an early check in as well, but he is crazy and requests them. Don‘t ask Keith why. Something about it being nice to have the afternoon free to do stuff, and liking to see the sunrise every day. Yeah, Keith can pass on that. Nothing will ever make him request early flights. Nothing!

The tiredness is gone by the time he finishes his coffee. His spare time as well. Keith leaves his cup in the kitchen, puts the sandwich into his red lunchbox and goes straight back to the bathroom to brush his teeth. And his hair, because that‘s getting long again. He really needs to see a barber before management starts nagging him about uniform standards. 

Maybe he needs to put it into a ponytail as well. But not now. It‘s just too early for commitment like that. 

He‘d rather commit to putting on a short sleeved dress shirt today. The weather forecast from yesterday announced over 90 degree, and even if he has a good working AC in his car, the walk from aircraft to the parking lot is not something he wants to complete in a long sleeved shirt. 

Short it is. 

Just like the way to work. 

Keith lives in the same neighborhood as his old mentor and now colleague-slash-almost brother Shiro. Same neighborhood meaning they share a hallway in the same complex. Keith got the apartment thanks to Shiro putting in a good word for him at the landlady, and another good word when Keith brought Kosmo along out of nowhere. 

It‘s also thanks to Shiro that Keith lives close to the airport, which saves him a lot of time, gas money and annoyance over traffic every day. He‘d rather spend his free time with Kosmo or with his bed than on a highway with 90 degrees outside. Bless Shiro, even his stupid, early flight loving heart. 

The staff parking lot of his airline is already full, since most people start arriving at around five. His check in is at five fifty, and with twenty more minutes to spare, Keith takes his time finding a nice spot before heading out for security. 

Since the usual rush-hour is already over, it takes literally no time to get through all the checks and, once outside the security building, airside on his way to the crew room. It‘s a quick, fifty feet walk along some aircrafts that are still sleeping soundly. 

The whole airport is quiet, since the first flight starts at six, and disturbing the ban on night flights is too expensive for anyone to want to try it. Not that Keith wants to try that. He‘d rather be asleep himself. 

The aircrafts still sleeping though means that the crew room must be full of people. And Keith is not wrong.

As soon as he sees the big, „Welcome to Altea Airlines Crew Room“ sign, the sound keyboards clicking, printers printing and crews briefing picks up. Roughly twenty crews, so about 120 people are gathered in the three floor building, everyone looking for a quiet spot to work or chat or just do whatever they need to do at five-thirty in the morning. 

Keith greets a few colleagues he knows from previous flights, but since most of them are already on their way out, he doesn‘t hold them up with small-talk.

Not that he wants to do small-talk anyway.

Again, five-thirty in the morning. 

He finds the nearest computer and logs into the system. A quick glance on the briefing sheet shows him the face of his captain, and a quick glance through the room shows him that he‘s not here yet. He prints a briefing sheet with the information about today‘s flight and crew, as well as the flight report they need for the aircraft. 

When it‘s done he gathers the print-outs and heads for a free table in the corner. He doesn‘t know anyone from the crew, but the base is huge, with almost a thousand people working here, and he‘s only three months in. At the base in his previous company there were only five aircrafts and about two hundred crew, a little family like they liked to call themselves, but here at Altea it‘s a bit different.

Sometimes even a lot different. 

But Keith never really minded the change, until today. 


	2. Chapter 2

Lance loves his job.

The aircrafts, the take-offs, the passengers, the layovers, the crews. He just loves it. 

There is hardly anything that can ruin his day, with his bright attitude and never-ending fountain of patience. Even if the passengers are a little too demanding sometimes, or if they make an off-hand homophobic, racist or sexist comment, or when they start whining about the stupidest problems you can think of that are certainly not Lance‘s fault. 

Even with all that, Lance loves his job. 

What he doesn‘t love is getting ignored though. 

With passengers it‘s easy. Either Lance ignores them back, or, if it‘s safety related, he annoys them until they finally do what he says. Always works. 

With grumpy first officers, it‘s a bit harder. 

At first Lance thought that his pilot of today, Keith Kogane, was just tired from waking up so early. Most people don‘t handle the early shift as well as Lance does. And he did look at Lance once after all; he met his gaze just as quick as he looked down again before biting his lip and frowning at his papers. 

Weird, but hey. Lance can still work with that. After two coffee and about one hour into the flight though, Lance is quite sure that it‘s not the time that‘s the problem. It‘s the guy.

With the standard service of economy and business class done, the captain, Mike, calls Lance for a quick toilet breaks. Lance gets Shirley to guard the door while he enters the flight deck and lets the captain outside to do what he needs to do. 

No big deal. 

What is a big deal is the first officer, Keith he reminds himself, ignoring him completely. That‘s just rude. 

So, Lance being Lance, makes sure that the guy, Keith, is not radioing when he tries for a little bit of small talk. 

„I‘ve never seen you at the base before,“ he tries first, which is a good conversation opener as well as a good observation. Someone like that guy, Keith, would have caught Lance‘s eye before. Even with his rudeness, Lance has to acknowledge that this guy, Keith, is pretty handsome. 

His answer isn‘t. „Probably.“

„Are you new?“

„Yeah.“

Oh-kay. He wants to play that game? Well, Lance is always open for a challenge. If there is one thing that he can do well, it‘s talking. „Where did you co-?“

The guy, Keith, holds up one hand, the international sign that a radio message is incoming and that Lance needs to shut up. He knows that every other pilot wouldn‘t use that sign unless absolutely necessary, but with this guy – Keith, dammit – he‘s not quite sure if he‘s not just being mocked. 

„Altea Romeo-Echo-Four-Delta, moving to thirty-six thousand feet,“ Keith answers the ground and turns the control to switch to said height. Okay, so he‘s not playing. But what he does is turn around and frown at Lance, annoyance now clear in his eyes. „Look, I‘m busy here.“

„Well,“ Lance huffs, „the auto-pilot is on, so your basically just radioing.“

The guy huffs back. „I need to concentrate on this.“ He gestures towards the front, where the most important control panels are located. As well as the auto-pilot-switch, which is on, and the screens for height and route, which are also operating normally. 

Lance gives him a disbelieving look. „You are trained to concentrate on this, and we both know that!“ Every other pilot is able to have a normal conversation with him at least. „No need to be so rude.“

The last part slips through Lance‘s lips before he can stop himself, and it seems to do the trick. The trick of properly pissing the guy off. 

„How about“, he starts through gritted teeth, „how about you let the pilot fly the plane, and I let you do your trolley dolly stuff, yeah?“

Trolley dolly?

„E-excuse me?“ Lance‘s voice shakes a little while those two words run through his mind. He briefly realizes Keith‘s eyes widen a bit, probably knowing that just did a big mistake, but Lance had enough of it. Just in time as the captain rings the door bell from the outside. 

„Okay mullet,“ he huffs while Keith checks the screens and opens the door, „have fun flying your plane.“ Lance makes some space for the captain to get back to his seat before asking, „You need anything else, Mike?“

He seems to hear the change of tone in Lance‘s voice as well, but doesn‘t comment on it. „Uhm, no?“

„Good, see you later then.“ Lance makes sure to close the cockpit door extra loudly, gaining a questioning look from Shirley, who was waiting for him to get back outside. „Don‘t ask,“ he murmurs, pushing past her to get back to his galley. 

Thankfully she doesn‘t, and simply walks back to the rear for her break, leaving Lance alone in his anger.

„Trolley dolly,“ he mutters lowly, huffing out a few breaths before he tries to calm himself. He shouldn‘t let this first officer affect him so much, but this is simply the worst anyone could call him. And hearing it from a stupid pilot who probably thinks he‘s better than the rest of the crew, just because he is higher in the chain of command than Lance – ugh, that makes his blood boil. 

In his anger, Lance grabs the leftover chocolate pudding from the lady on 2C, digging in with gusto. A few more minutes and a cake from the premium economy later, Lance feels calm enough to get back to work. He has a role to play and people to take care of after all. He’s just about to clean up the mess of food wrapping he made when Patrick pops up behind the closed curtain. 

„That‘s for the flight deck.“ He hands Lance two cooled packages of crew food that he needs to heat up soon so the pilots have some proper breakfast. „And 3A wants another coffee, but I can take that.“

„No, don‘t worry,“ Lance sighs, taking the little foil pans from him and placing them into the cooling compartment of a box. He prepares the coffee like the passenger likes it, no milk and one sugar cube on the side, as well as a glass of still water and puts it on a tray to bring it into the cabin. 

Only when Lance gets back he gets a little idea for revenge on the first officer. 

Patrick is eyeing him warily when a grin appears on Lance‘s face and he takes the foil pan with the first officer‘s food from the cooling to put it into the oven, and setting the timer for ten minutes. 

„What are you doing?“ Patrick asks from the corner, not knowing the tricks of pissing off a snappy first officer yet. 

„Gotta make sure that the food for the first officer is not undercooked,“ he explains calmly, reassuring his own conscience that it‘s only a half-lie.

If the meal happens to be dry, like, Sahara desert-dry, then there is nothing Lance can do about that. 

Two can play that game after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith spends the fifteen minute ride home thinking about this horrible day. He would spend even more time dwelling on it if he wouldn‘t live so close to the airport, but the ride is short, and he doesn‘t need a car ride to think about his horrible day. He can do that on his couch as well.

But, right before slamming his keys into the lock of his door, Keith decides to not dwell on it anymore. Sure, it was a horrible day, but he learned from Shiro that sometimes shit happens, and that thinking about it too much is just living through it two times. 

So, Keith takes a deep breath and opens the door, ready to drop onto his couch. Only that his couch is occupied already. 

„Hey, how was your day?“

He wants to slam his head into the table the moment the question leaves Shiro‘s mouth. It‘s his talent to ask the stupidest questions in the worst possible moments. Anyway, Keith hopes that his face says it all.

Shiro raises an eyebrow at him, but it fails to look concerned with the amusement in his eyes. „Bad captain?“

„No,“ Keith murmurs, „bad purser.“

„That‘s probably even worse,“ he huffs with a smile. That bastard is really having fun on Keith‘s expenses today. „Who did you get? Wait, no. Let me guess!“ Shiro sits up like an excited puppy, not the thirty-plus year old geezer he is. „Was it Regina, that old hag? I swear she is only sweet to the passengers, but bosses the crew around like crazy.“

And why does Shiro sound so happy asking that?

Keith frowns at him. „No.“

„Or Wilson? He seems like the nicest guy, but there is something about him that just gives me the chills.“

„No.“ Keith‘s frown only deepens. „Honestly? You make me fear the future.“

„Oh come one,“ Shiro laughs, „Marmora had horrible purser as well.“ He leans back into the couch, staring at Keith‘s ceiling for a good minute or two. Keith takes the opportunity to get to his bedroom and switch his uniform for some comfy sweats and a black shirt. 

Only when he gets back into the living room and sits on the couch as well, Shiro speaks up again. „Okay, I can‘t think of anyone else.“

This time it‘s Keith‘s turn to huff a laugh. „I‘m surprised that the golden boy could even think of one.“

„Shut up.“ Shiro bumps into Keith‘ shoulder, using more force than necessary, like the ass he is. „Tell me who is it?“

Keith sighs as he tries to remember that guy. It‘s not hard, honestly, because the image of tan, freckled skin, styled, brown curls and light, ocean blue eyes pops up right in front of his eyes almost too quickly. Honestly, if it wasn‘t for the fact that he made his day miserable, Keith would actually be smitten. 

Another sigh leaves his lips before he answers, frown getting even deeper. „A guy named Lance.“

Shiro‘s smile fades and his eyebrows shoot up. „Lance McClain?“

Weird, but okay. „Yeah,“ Keith answers hesitantly, and regrets it immediately as he watches Shiro‘s face morph from surprise to disappointment quicker than that one time he picked a fight with some rich kid from flight school. 

„Oh, Keith,“ and his voice switches to full dad-mode. „What did you do?“

Keith sits up straight. „What? Why do you think I did something?“

Shiro doesn‘t answer. Just stares at Keith. Raises an eyebrow, judging. Raises the other and tilts his head down, taking the ‚disappointed-dad‘-look to a whole new level. He‘s just missing the glasses and it would be perfect. 

Though it‘s already enough to break Keith‘s resolve.

„I might have used the words ‚trolley dolly‘,“ Keith murmurs, knowing fully well that this is the one word a pilot should never put in his mouth. He still feels ashamed just thinking about it, but Shiro‘s look makes him recoil and turn defensive. „But that was just one comment! He didn‘t have to go so far to put sugar in every coffee and to make my food even drier than it already is!“

It‘s time for Shiro to sigh. „You do know that you deserved that sweet coffee and dry food?“ 

Keith crosses his arms over his chest, biting his cheek while his eyes roam over his living room. Every little spot from the windows to the adjoint kitchen, making sure to avoid Shiro‘s eyes as much as possible. „He said that I don‘t do anything important in the flight deck,“ he mumbles after a while. 

„Did he really?“

„Yes!“ Keith almost shouts, but his voice cracks, giving him away immediately. „Well, not like that,“ he tries to explain. „He was chatting with me and…“ His brain pulls the breaks a bit too late, the next part already out before he can think about it. „He‘s cute, so I couldn‘t talk.“

„Did you at least try to apologize?“ Another dad-look comes after Keith reluctantly shakes his head. „You have to take the first step, or else you‘ll get sweet coffee and dry food for the rest of your career at Altea.“

„Ugh.“ As if he didn‘t know that. „Fine.“ But the look is still there, so Keith bites his lip and adds, „Next time I fly with him, I‘ll apologize.“

„Good.“ Shiro leans forward and pats his knees, only to get up with a long groan. Seriously, why does he act like an old geezer? 

Or is Keith the one making him act so old? And does that mean that Keith acts like a child?

But before Keith can think too much about it, Shiro lets out the grown-ass single child that he tries to hide so well. „You want pancakes for dinner?“

„Again?“ It‘s time for Keith to act like a functioning adult, not the gay disaster he feels like. „Shiro it‘s not even dinner-time, and we should eat something healthy for once.“

Shiro tilts his head, a crooked grin on his lips. „We could cook something.“

Yeah, no.

„Pancakes it is.“ Keith pushes himself from the couch, already halfway out his door when Shiro stops giggling and joins him towards the diner they visited less then 24 hours ago. 

It‘s useless to discuss certain things with Shiro, like dinner plans or what Keith should and should not do on board.

He just hopes that his issues with the cute purser get solved as quickly as his dinner problems.

  
_ Next time we fly together _ , he reminds himself. Next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Lance lets himself fall head first into the hotel bed, ready to either sleep or die on the spot. Right now, he doesn‘t care. He takes a deep breath, smells the laundry detergent of the hotel, a mixture or cotton and citrus, and exhales slowly, feeling the tension leave his body to make space for the exhaustion. 

He is so tired.

All thanks to that stupid first officer. 

Which is not quite true, but right now Lance is too tired to care. A look on his watch tells him it‘s also too late to care. 

Damn those stupid late shifts. 

And damn his stupid ass. And the first officers stupid ass. And scheduling for putting his stupid ass with that stupid ass on a week long trip around the whole continent. 

Why does that always happen to him? And why was the only colleague able to switch with Lance on the late shift? 

Damn everything for a few minutes. Just until Lance feels less tired.

He stretches his arms and legs, feeling every muscle and bone ache after that long shift. After taking a few more, deep breath, he looks for the light switch as well as his phone, turning both on and getting blinded for a few moments. 

His phone is full of messages, the most important one from his family. Hunk and Pidge misused their group chat for engineering talk again, so Lance ignores it and moves straight to the chat with his big brother. Seems like he needs a flight back home for himself, his wife and his kids, and it would be awesome if Lance could be on that flight as well. 

Plus, if Lance buys the tickets over Altea‘s staff website, it‘s usually a lot cheaper. 

Before he starts browsing though, Lance quickly takes off his uniform and places the suit jacket, pants and waistcoat on a hanger in the wardrobe next to his door. Saves him some ironing, which he hates more than that stupid first officers ass. 

And while he‘s at it, he also hangs up his dress shirt for the next day, and gets a face mask from his toilet bag. Nothing is better than his favorite cucumber-avocado mask after a long day of work. 

When the face mask is on his face, the last step to do is stuff himself in his pajama‘s and sit down on the comfortable wing chair in the corner of his room. Then, and only then Lance is ready to search for his brother‘s flights. 

It‘s done pretty quickly, since Lance does this, like, once a week for his whole family. Sometimes for himself as well, but he usually prefers to fly on his own, since he doesn‘t really have any place to go to but his parent‘s house. 

Next is swapping himself on the flight. He quickly checks who the purser is before sending them a swap request and a quick email explaining the why‘s and how‘s and his gratitude if he would swap with Lance. Which he does, right before his timer for the face masks rings. 

He washes off the mask and completes his routine by pampering himself with his best face cream, some good hand cream and, because he can‘t skip it, brushing his teeth before he falls into his bed. He feels much better than before, even if the exhaustion is still creeping up on him. 

Lance sends a quick message to his brother, explaining that the flight is booked and his flights are swapped and that he can‘t wait to have them on board. Which is true. He loves flying with his family, loves showing them around, letting the kids peek into the flight deck, treat them to some nice food and drinks from the business class. 

It has its perks being the boss. 

The moment his head hits the pillow he can feel himself drift off. He barely manages to set an alarm for tomorrow's breakfast and plug his charger into his phone before his eyes refuse to open. Blindly Lance searches for the light switch, almost knocks over a bottle of water on his nightstand before finding it, and rolls in his bed until he finds a comfortable position. 

Lance is ready for some solid eight or more hours of sleep. But his mind just won‘t shut up.

Even after over seven years of flying, it‘s sometimes hard for him to sleep in hotels. Especially on late shifts, where the work of the day is still fresh in his mind and he barely got time to unwind before he falls asleep. 

It not today‘s flight that keeps bugging him though, but the one he had three weeks ago. 

With a sigh, Lance opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling. A ray of silver moonlight illuminates the faint pattern on the wallpaper, and his eyes roam over it while his brain keeps rummaging through memories of indigo eyes hidden behind dark bangs and a deep frown.

„Trolley dolly,“ he mutters to himself. 

He hates that word. It‘s the worst someone could call him, especially after his break up with-

„Nope!“ Lance sits up in his bed, shaking his head until the memory of him is out of his mind. He‘d rather think about this stupid first officer than him.

With a sigh he flops back into his bed, letting his mind wander and think about Keith instead. It‘s hard to admit how handsome he is with constant, unpleasant feelings that makes his stomach drop in the background. 

He‘s proud that he stood up for himself this time, but still. It doesn‘t feel nice being called that by crew. With passengers he doesn‘t care, since they walk out of the aircraft and out of Lance‘s life, but with crew it‘s hard. 

Why else would he be stuck on a late shift trying to avoid said first officer? He‘s just glad that he is not working for Altea anymore, courtesy of Allura. Lance will never regret cancelling his crush on her and working to be her friend instead. She is a great friend in general, but firing Lance‘s stupid ex is just something no one can ever top. 

After roughly thirty minutes of thinking about anything and everything and doing a whole 360 of turning in his bed, Lance‘s mind finally starts to settle. His eyes get heavy again, and his head slumps into his pillow. Briefly he remembers that he forgot to check the rest of the crew on Marco‘s flight, but that can wait until tomorrow. 

How big are the chances that he has an asshole – that asshole - on board anyway?


	5. Chapter 5

Keith doesn‘t know if the cookie held up in front of him is a good or a bad thing. Considering who‘s holding it, it could be poisoned. But it looks really good, double chocolate chip with peanut butter drizzle and clearly handmade, and Keith‘s empty stomach is growling loudly at the sight. 

„Come on, mullet,“ Lance sighs in front of him, his frown totally not matching the occasion. He‘s taping his food on the floor, looking at the table next to Keith, their captain who is already munching on his own cookie, the computers behind him; anywhere but Keith. 

Which shouldn‘t really matter to him, but Keith still feels a bit disappointed. He carefully takes the cookie, but holds on to it while his eyes move from his own hands to Lance‘s cute little pout. „Thank you?“

„You‘re welcome,“ Lance huffs. „And I’m sorry.“

Which Keith did not expect at all. He raises his eyebrows, still staring at Lance while the rest of the crew stares at them, probably confused about their awkwardness. 

„I‘m gonna brief now,“ Lance quickly explains, turning on his heel to get back to his own table. The girls in the crew, everyone with their own cookie, are quiet until he arrives, eyeing Keith curiously, probably already planning their gossip for their break in the aft galley later on. 

Not that Keith cares about that. People will always gossip, especially flight attendants, and no one is safe from them. 

The captain clears his throat, and Keith puts the cookie on the table and gets back to his own papers. With a pen in his left he‘s ready to brief, but the captain is looking at him with a raised eyebrow as well.

„Why did our purser need to apologize to you?“

„Uhm-“ Keith feels himself blush and draws his eyes on the table, trying to force the heat in his cheeks away by pure willpower. He really hopes it works, because he can still feel the stares of the captain and the girls in him, and he doesn‘t need to embarrass himself even more. 

Plus, he still has to apologize as well, and since he didn‘t catch Lance before the flight today, with him always disappearing from Keith‘s schedule only to unexpectedly pop up again, with a cookie and an apology; ugh, Keith really needs to get his shit together. 

„We had a misunderstanding,“ Keith answers the captain somewhat honestly. He doesn‘t know how much Lance would tell him or the rest of the crew, or if he would even talk about it in the first place, so keeping it at least a part of it true is the safest option. „Though I still have to apologize myself.“

„Then you better get to it after the brief. We have a long way to talk to the aircraft today after all.“ 

Keith glances on his briefing sheet to catch the captain‘s name since he forgot it already thanks to the cookie right next to him. Paul, said captain, organizes his papers, folds a few of them before he takes his pen as well and starts with their briefing. 

On the way to the aircraft, Paul, who seems to be a natural in crew management, engages the ladies into a conversation, lagging a bit behind so Keith and Lance can walk together in front of them. 

Which gives Keith the perfect opportunity for a semi-private talk. To finally apologize to Lance for his massive fuck-up five weeks ago. Maybe get him to start over, completely from the beginning. 

If only he could open his mouth. 

The walk to their aircraft is long, it‘s one of the farthest walking positions of the airport, but it doesn‘t seem long enough when Keith can already spot the plane in the distance without having spoken a single word. The awkward silence is deafening, and if it wasn‘t for a few aircrafts around them starting their APU‘s or engines, it would be completely quiet. 

Keith takes a deep breath. Steels himself. Prepares the words in his head. 

Okay. He can do this. In three, two, o-

„Listen, I‘m not really sorry for putting sugar in your coffee,“ Lance interrupts his inner pep-talk, making Keith hold his breath for a second. „But the word you used was shit.“

„I know,“ Keith admits, biting his lip to keep himself from saying more shit. Though, something that would probably not be wrong is „I‘m sorry about that. I didn‘t mean it.“

Lance scoffs. „You bett-“ He stops himself mid-sentence, blushing and looking away. Keith catches it from the side, the sight making something in his stomach bubble. Lance takes a deep breath and starts over. „I just want my brother and his family to have a nice flight today.“

And yeah, he told Keith that before giving him the cookie that is hidden in a paper wrap in his bag. He didn‘t want to inhale it like the rest of the crew did, but actually take his time savoring the gift Lance has prepared for him. Well, probably not with Keith‘s happiness in mind, but still. It‘s a gift. 

And Keith is happy about it. „They can always visit us in the flight deck,“ he offers. They let kids in all the time anyway, sometimes even adults if they ask nicely. Of course only when the engines are not running and never in the actual flight. Safety first. „I‘m sure the captain won‘t mind.“

„And you?“ Lance needs to shout since the first few aircrafts have started their pushback, engines on and the usual work at the airport creating an almost deafening noise. 

Keith tries for a smile. „I won‘t mind either. If it makes you happy.“

„It does.“ Lance matches his smile, his eyes sparkling in the morning sun that‘s finally raising over the horizon. „Thank you, Keith.“ 

They say nothing for the rest of the walk, and Keith enjoys the sudden change from awkward to comfortable. The rest of the crew slowly catches up, and they are almost at the aircraft when Lance speaks up again. „Don‘t use that word again.“ 

Keith clears his throat, watching the captain walk up the steps attached to the aircraft and open the door. „I won‘t.“

The other flight attendants are already on their way towards the rear, getting inside through the door there. Lance nods a few times, watching the captain as well until they can finally get up. „Then I won‘t force you to do small-talk anymore either.“

From the steps Keith could see the runway to his left, but his eyes are trained on Lance‘s back. „I wouldn‘t mind though…“ he says. 

But Lance doesn‘t hear him over an aircraft starting it‘s take-off. Keith doesn‘t repeat himself. 


	6. Chapter 6

It‘s not easy to concentrate on the children next to him in the car when his mind is full of whatever happened today. It‘s almost suspicious how well everything went; the apology, the flight with his family, the visit into the cockpit while boarding, and most importantly, Keith actually talking to him like a normal human being. 

That‘s probably the thing Lance expected the least. Small-talk. 

But…

I wouldn‘t mind though...

What is Lance supposed to do with that, huh?

„Tío Lance, look,“ Sylvio shouts from the side, his indoor voice forgotten thanks to the excitement of being able to visit the flight deck and sit in the first officer‘s seat with his sister. 

Lance‘s eyes move over to him, his problems on hold for a moment as Sylvio shows him a picture he drew. It‘s their plane, with the faces of him, his parents and Nadia peeking through the windows. Even the crew is there, one of them sitting in the forward galley with Lance like procedure for take-off and landing, the other two in the rear, and in the front are the captain and-

„It‘s for Keith!“ Sylvio explains, pointing at the little stick figure of said first officer. He even got the mullet right.

That bastard managed to charm his way into his niece‘s and nephew‘s heart is a matter of two seconds. While the captain was outside for the usual checks, Keith got full reign over the flight deck, and did everything possible with the two kids in the little time they got. That included answering every single question Sylvio had (which were a lot), letting the kids sit on the pilot seats, making picture of and with them for the family album, and signing the little flight book they got as a present from Lance last Christmas. 

And on top of that, he did small-talk. With Lance. 

I wouldn‘t mind though...

And not just once or twice while his family was around. No, during turnarounds he actually got his butt outside his seat and talked to him. Asked questions about Lance‘s family. Got Lance to explain him where the coffee is stowed so Lance doesn‘t have to run for him all the time. Showed interest in his work, if the passengers are nice to him, if the ground staff treats him right. 

All while Lance asked himself what the heck is going on.

I wouldn‘t mind though…

What is that supposed to mean?

Did Keith suddenly grow a conscience after getting sweet coffee for a whole day? Or does he just want to prevent that from happening again? Maybe he did notice that Lance swapped himself from their shared flights? Or does he know something Lance doesn‘t know?

No, Allura would know first, and if Lance screwed up she would tell him. 

What is it then?

„…ance? Lance!“

„Huh?“ Lance head snaps up when he realizes that Marco has been calling him.

„You‘re alright back there?“ his brother asks, eyeing him through the rearview mirror. „You‘re lost in thoughts.“

„No, I‘m alright. Just-“ he stops himself, not knowing what to say. He doesn‘t really want to spill his thoughts to him, especially with the kids around, who clearly adore Keith. He prefers to shit-talk about people with Rachel or Allura. „Just thinking about to day.“ With a smile he turns towards the kids. „What did you guys like the most in the flight deck?“

„Keith!“ Nadia screams, giving Lance a heart attack.

Of fucking course. 

Thankfully, Sylvio has a stronger interest into actual aircrafts than the cute firsts officers flying them. „I liked the screens. They were different than the ones in abuelo’s planes.“ 

„It‘s a bigger aircraft after all,“ Lance laughs, enjoying the giggles from the kids. „Maybe your abuelo can take you on a trip while you‘re here.“ 

„Nah, he‘s got too much to do,“ Marco says quickly, before the kids can work themselves up. „We already asked him. But I was hoping that you and I could go during the weekend. I need some practice before I renew my certificate.“

Lance smiles. A trip with his brother is always nice. „Sure thing, I can‘t wait.“

The kids start chatting with their mom about their abuela‘s food again, and what they are going to eat as soon as they arrive at Lance‘s parent‘s place. He needs to fly an early shift tomorrow before he can start into his days off, but there‘s always time for some diner at his parents place. Especially when the whole family gets together. 

Lance watches the kids for a while before his eyes drift back outside. So many things happened today that it‘s hard to think right now. Especially with Keith behaving so well. 

It seems that they can get along from now on, which makes Lance‘s like a lot easier. Honestly, he feels ashamed that he let his emotions get the best of him so clearly. Maybe if he hadn‘t pushed Keith into talking thing would have gone differently. 

At least they are different now. He‘s glad that Keith was on his flight today, and that he took the chance to apologize, even if it was kind of faked and just for his family. In the end, he did mean it sincerely, and gave Keith a homemade cookie on top. 

Not many people get homemade cookies from Lance. Usually he asks Hunk to make some, because they are a lot better. But this time he just wanted to make it personal, for the sake of the kid‘s happiness.

Lance sighs. Thinks back to dark hair and pale skin, indigo eyes and his smile when he talked with the kids. 

His smile when he talked with Lance. 

I wouldn‘t mind though...

You know what? Neither would Lance. 


	7. Chapter 7

„Dutyplan is out.“

Keith breathes out. Those are the first words from Shiro in the past hour that don’t grate on his nerves. The rest of the long turnaround, the time in-between flights, was used by his annoying brother to flirt with their ramp agent, Curtis, who Shiro has been crushing on for ages. 

And to say it nicely, Keith is fucking sick of listening to his stupid stammering. Just get a fucking room. 

„They released it early today.“ Even though it’s not really allowed to turn on your phone during work to check private stuff, everyone does it anyway. They wouldn’t be able to stay sane (or awake) with a long turnaround like this otherwise. „Let‘s see.“ Shiro hums a few times, obviously ignoring Keith’s annoyed huff with a smile and opens their duty plan app instead. 

While Keith does the same, he starts praying for a few good flights next month. He doesn’t mind layovers, since he finally found a good dog-sitter for when he and Shiro are not at home, but he’s wary of some captains already. He doesn’t need the chatty type, or quite literally the assholes sitting to his left. He has already enough work with his stupid brother. 

When the app finally updates the plan for the next month, Keith ignores the flights and goes straight to the crew section. No stupid captains at least, and no stupid purser either, but also no Lance... 

With a sigh that shouldn’t sound as disappointed as it does, he turns to Shiro. „Nothing special, and you?“

„Well, a few overnights, a one-week trip, and I‘m off on our game night.“ 

„Good.” Keith laughs. “You‘re bringing snacks this time.“

Keith pockets his phone and grabs his coffee cup to make himself another drink. He’s already halfway out the flight deck when Shiro almost jumps in his seat, scaring the shit out of Keith. 

„Oh!“ 

„What?“ Keith gets back to his seat and checks the screens, but there is no alarm. Nothing wrong. And Shiro is still on his phone, jumping up and down like a three-year-old who got told that they’re going to have chocolate cake for dessert. 

Shiro smirks. „You wanna know who I‘m flying with?“

And that is all this stupid behaviour is about? Jesus, Keith thought the aircraft was burning or something. They are in the middle of refueling after all. „I don‘t really care if it‘s not me?“ 

„Oh you will care.” Shiro is putting some kind of sing-song into his voice, only that it’s not the right pitch and Keith notes that he should never go to karaoke with him. Never. When Shiro starts wiggling his eyebrows, Keith walks out of the flight deck without another word. But Shiro knows his weakness. “Lance is the purser.“

„What?” And Keith gets back, the empty coffee cup still in his hand and the poor crew sitting and waiting in the first row must be utterly confused. It doesn’t matter though, because what matters is- „When?“

Shiro’s stupid grin grows even wider. „The 14th. It‘s the week trip.“

Damn, Keith will probably regret it (probably not if he can fly with Lance), but... „Who‘s your first officer?“

„Oh, now you wanna know?“

Keith is very close to throwing the first punch. The only things that are stopping him are that he really wants to get home without a visit at the police station and Coran’s office today, and he really wants that flight with Lance. 

„Shiro,” he starts, forcing the name out in a long breath that holds all of his patience, „ shut up and tell me the name, or-” and he takes a break to think of a threat, finding it in their ramp agent just coming upstairs with some papers- „ I will call Curtis in here and tell him embarrassing shit about you.“

Shiro sits up in his seat, his headphones almost falling off. „Don‘t.“ He looks back at his phone while Keith is praying that the ground staff isn’t trying to contact them right now. They are both total disasters, neither listening to the radio like they should. „It‘s James Griffin,” Shiro says after a while, fixing his headphones and turning his screen off. 

„Shit,” Keith murmurs, almost crushing the cup in his hand. „He‘s not gonna swap with me!“

„See, I told you beating him up in High School would have consequences.“ That’s not the nicest thing to say, but again, Shiro is a brother to him, and he act that way. Rubbing the salt into the already burning wound. „How about I ask him? I don‘t want to see you brooding for the whole month.“ Saving his ass when something really matters to Keith.

„Really?” Keith asks, ignoring the obvious little whine in his voice. He sounds like a dog begging for treats. That reminds him- „What about Kosmo? The dog-sitter can’t take him for a whole week.“

Shiro gives him a smile. „We‘ll find a solution.“

Before Keith can thank Shiro properly, Curtis comes into the cockpit to start preparing the forms for their next flight. „That‘s from the fueler, and here is the bag count.“ He hands Shiro two papers, even though Keith is standing right next to him, trying to force down a gag because the stupid, lovestruck look in Shiro’s eyes gets mirrored by Curtis. 

„Thank you, Curtis.” Cue Keith rolling his eyes in the background, finally getting outside to prepare himself some coffee and ignoring the horrible flirting inside the flight deck. „You‘re always so quick with everything.“

„Just doing my job, Shiro.“

Lord. Devil. Whoever. Help him. 

Keith shares a look with the purser sitting in the first row, who’s idly listening to those two idiots talking in the flight deck. He’s getting chuckle in return, but the purser, Harry was it, is probably not as disgusted as him. Just amused. 

Anyway. 

There is still something Keith needs to do before they can take off. Something that includes teasing his brother, thinning out the ice Keith is standing on, and maybe even pushing them into the right direction. 

With a hot coffee in his hands, Keith gets back into the cockpit and takes his seat, sipping his drink while he patiently waits for Shiro to stop flirting. It takes a while, but it’s worth it.

Promising to bring them, or rather Shiro, the passenger numbers next, Curtis is already halfway through the door when Keith calls out for him. 

„Hey Curtis?“ With a questioning hum Curtis steps back into the cockpit, not seeing the questioning look from Shiro that turns into a don’t-or-I-will-kill-you gaze way too quickly as Shiro registers Keith’s smirk. He ignores it. „Do you like dogs?“


	8. Chapter 8

„Can you tell me,“ Lance starts very carefully, because he has no clue how thick the ice is and he doesn‘t want to fall right back into the cold water after pulling himself out with homemade cookies; „can you tell me why Shiro hates you right now?“

Keith snorts into his half-finished drink, a glass of non-alcoholic ice tea because they have work tomorrow and actually need to be sober to fly. And they are responsible adults who want to keep their jobs. And Shiro ordered this round while keeping a very bad try of a frown on his face, dedicated solely to Keith alone. 

„I could,“ Keith smirks, placing his empty glass on the table and reaching for his actual drink, a totally and very alcoholic beer, his second and last one because they are responsible adults who want to keep their job and need to be sober to work. „But where is the fun in that?“

It‘s a side Lance has never really seen from Keith before. Sure, they talked on their flights together, did actual conversation and joked and laughed and made fun of a stupid passenger that got clearly upgraded to business because he behaved like a goat in a palace. 

But teasing. 

That‘s new. 

And it‘s making Lance‘s stomach tingle. 

His smile matches Keith as he leans a bit over the table. His eyes move over to the bar where Shiro is paying his bill for the evening before heading to bed, and then back to Keith who is still watching him, is leaning in as well so Lance doesn‘t have to shout his theories through the whole hotel bar. 

„Okay.“ He takes a minute to think, of possible things Keith could have done to make Shiro angry. It‘s hard to think of anything serious, because Lance doesn‘t really know much about Keith, and barely enough about Shiro to know that there is literally nothing that could make the calm and friendly man break his face. „You…“ 

„I?“ Keith smirk only grows bigger.

It must have been something big then. Lance rakes his brain, but the gin tonic warming his body does not help at all. What it does is makes Lance see Keith on a whole new level. The sharpness of his smile competing with the softness in his eyes. They look almost violet in the dim bar light, like spheres in the darkest part of space, illuminating a small place in the universe with it‘s beautiful, purple light.

„So?“

Lance shakes his head. That thought strayed a little bit too far. Must be the drink. 

„You ate his last chocolate.“ It’s the first thing that comes to his mind, something he himself would be angry about, has been angry about when he discovered that his niece and nephew found his snack stash when they had a sleepover. 

„Nope.“ Keith shakes his head, a few strands of hair falling from his loose ponytail. He tugs some behind his ear, showing a black stud he’s not allowed to wear with his uniform, but in his private clothes, a tight, maroon shirt and even tighter black jeans, he can literally wear anything. „Come on,” he pauses to take another sip from his beer, „you can do better.“

„Hmm…“ Lance licks his lips, tasted the bitterness from his drink and bites his lips to focus on the task, not on the leather bracelet dangling from Keith’s wrist. It has a pendant in the form of a plane, and Lance would love to have something like this as well. He just has a tattoo he has to hide. „You embarrassed Shiro in front of your neighbors.”

Again, something that comes from experience. 

„Nope.“ Keith chuckles lowly, a smooth sound that runs through Lance like cinnamon-honey. Sweet and sticky and leaving him aching for a little bit more. Just a little bit. 

„Give me a hint,“ he demands next, watching Keith raise one eyebrow a little bit before adding a pouty „Please?“

Keith clears his throat and looks towards Shiro who is on his way back to the table with another glass. Seems like he’s not ready to go to bed yet. 

With a smile he sits back next to Keith. „What are you guys talking about?” 

Since Keith is still busy clearing his throat, Lance speaks up. And since Lance is quite curious about that topic, he dives straight into it. „About what Keith did to make you hate him.”

Ah, the frown is back. „I don’t hate him.” Shiro looks toward Keith, his eyes literally screaming ‘Keith, that’s not true, tell Lance that I don’t hate you’. He looks like a dad, sitting there and waiting for his kid to finally confess something bad it did. 

Oh, and Keith confesses. „He is angry that I asked his crush to look after my dog.”

„Keith!”

“You have a dog?” Lance gasps as he sits up and makes grabby hands for Keith’s arm on the table. He brushes against the small pendant, a cool point on his too hot skin. “Show me pictures?”

Shiro huffs something about Keith and his dog, but Lance ignores him completely to watch Keith fish out his phone instead. He types a few things before placing it on the table and pushing it towards Lance. 

On the screen is a huge folder full of shots of a black and white dog with heterochromia eyes. It’s the cutest little thing Lance has seen in years. Especially the ones where Keith is sitting down on the floor to make a selfie with his dog, a quirked smile on his face as he gets his face messed up by a curious dog nose.

“It’s so cute!” Lance takes the phone into his hands and scrolls through the photos. “Is it a boy or a girl?” From the plain leather collar, Lance can’t really make out the gender. Not that he minds. Not that he’s looking at the dog in general, with its owner smiling so cute on some of the photos. 

“A boy. His name is Kosmo,” Keith provides. “He is a border collie and husky mix.” 

He takes his phone and scrolls towards the very end of the album where quite a bunch of puppy photos make Lance swoon. Keith has short hair there, so the photos are probably a few years old, and Lance can’t decide which length he likes more. 

He doesn’t know if it’s the drink or the fact that Keith brushing his hand over Lance’s when he retrieves the phone makes him speak up like that, but the words are out before Lance can stop himself: “I wanna meet him.”

Keith blinks surprised, but a smile blooms on his lips just a moment after. “Sure.” 

The both ignore Shiro’s snort from the side while Lance gets Keith’s phone back to put in his number. And then, because his brain probably wants to keep him up all night with the memory of that sentence: “It’s a date.” 


	9. Chapter 9

Keith knows that it’s hard to win against his brother, in like, any kind of situation, but he thought with Curtis he finally got the upper hand for once. 

Only that this upper hand is biting him in the butt right now. 

Because with every photo he gets from Curtis, be it one from Kosmo alone or a selfie of both of them together, Shiro’s mood gets worse, and so do his stupid tricks. 

It started with rudely making Lance and him go to bed after their first night at the bar, without even letting them say proper ‘good nights’. He doesn’t know how that would have looked like, but it would have still been better than Shiro shoving him and Lance into their respective rooms and calling it a day. 

Next was the following morning, where Shiro kept engaging Lance in conversations whenever Keith’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Which was a lot, because Curtis was off work and having a great time with Kosmo at the dog park. 

So, Keith didn’t manage to speak to Lance at all, which was infuriated after being able to talk to him all the time. And it worsened his mood as well. In the end, he made a show of not showing Shiro said pictures whenever Shiro kept Lance’s attention all on him. 

It was a lose-lose situation for both of them. 

Knowing that the rest of his only week with Lance would get worse if he doesn’t do something, Keith planned to make a trade in the same afternoon. 

Only that Shiro started to ignore him completely after their flights. 

They went for dinner with the whole crew, and while Shiro made sure to keep Lance and him separated – sitting between them, either talking to Lance or the rest of the crew, not even going to the fucking bathroom – he also didn’t leave Keith any space to get on with his plan. 

And it was a simple plan: Shiro gets the photos, Keith gets his alone time with Lance. 

See? Simple. But it would work if Shiro just stop fucking ignoring him. 

Which he did for the rest of the evening, and another whole fucking day until Keith literally dragged him away from everyone while the crew was occupied watching some windows at a popular shopping mall. 

„Shiro,” Keith grits out as soon as they are out of reach. He eyes the crew with a frown, hoping that no one will turn around before glancing at his brother. His mood drops even lower if possible, and so do his eyebrows as Keith sees Shiro’s stupid smirk.

„Keith?” Even his voice is full of his own gusto, making Keith feel the urge to stomp his feet and scream out for a non-existent mom that his brother is teasing him again. 

He takes a deep breath. It doesn’t calm him, but at least it gives him enough focus on the actual goal of this stupid conversation. „I’ll send you all of Curtis photos if you just fuck off.”

„Deal,” Shiro answers almost too quick, but he probably saw it coming by now. „But I want the photos first.”

Keith’s eyeroll gets ignored while they both take their phones out and wait for the photos to send and download. When it’s finally done, Shiro salutes Keith before pocketing his phone again. „It was a pleasure doing business with you.” 

They slowly walk back to the group, which is still distracted by the stuff in the window. Seriously, what are they watching that is so interesting? Hopefully nothing they actually want to buy, because Keith really doesn’t feel like strolling through the shops randomly, or waiting for hours for them to finish. 

„Also,” Shiro jerks him out of his thoughts a couple of feet in front of the crew. He is whispering, so Keith gets a bit closer. „When you’re debating with yourself if you want me to be your best man at your wedding, remember what I am about to do.”

Before Keith can even ask Shiro what the hell he means with that, his brother is already speaking up again, this time loud enough for all of them to hear. „Hey guys, there is this Chinese restaurant I want to try out. Someone‘s happy to join me? The drinks are on me.“

The three FA‘s chime in with big smiles, following Shiro down the mall without even noticing the two people staying behind. 

Keith clears the few steps between him and Lance with a smile. He has to keep a jump out of his step to look less ridiculous. „You‘re not in the mood for Chinese food?“ he asks carefully when Lance turns towards him expectantly. 

„No, not really,“ he shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips as well. „I went to this place on my last trip two weeks ago, so I‘d like to eat something else this time.“ He pockets his hands in his jeans and looks towards the other end of the mall, where a big wing door leads towards a street full of restaurant and food stalls. „I‘d rather have some pasta, honestly. And they have great pizza and garlic bread as well. Care to join me?“

Keith can‘t ignore the somehow hopeful tone in Lance‘s voice. He really wishes it‘s not just his own wishful thinking, but with Lance‘s raised eyebrow, his bitten lips and the light blush on his cheeks, he thinks that he can lean out of the window a little bit and say that Lance actually wants to do something with him as well. 

„I‘d love to.“ And he really does, even though he usually wouldn‘t want to let him know that. But with Lance it‘s different. Everything seems a little bit different with him. 

„Let‘s go then.“ Lance starts walking towards the doors, slowly at first, waiting for Keith to catch up until they walk next to each other, shoulders touching, hands brushing together with every other step, and the feeling sending shivers down Keith‘s spine. „I‘m starving.“

This time, Keith manages to shut his mouth before letting something embarrassing slip again, but the words that his heart gladly provides still echo through his head. 

_ For you. I am starving for you. _


	10. Chapter 10

Lance feels somewhat shy when he bids Keith goodnight. 

Don‘t ask him why, but the prickling feeling of excitement and the constant need to hide his wide, everlasting smile roams through his body like bumblebees. Or ants, or butterflies, or some other tingling thing that could be compared by that. The feeling of taking off maybe, or the little drop of the plane before it hits the ground for landing. 

The feelings lasted through the whole dinner they had together, leaving Lance restless and kind of awkward even. He hopes that Keith didn‘t notice his stupid tics, but with the way he almost destroyed his napkin between his hands, the way he couldn‘t really look Keith in the eyes for more than two seconds without blushing, the way that he even had problems choosing what to eat because he could for the love of the universe not concentrate on the menu…

Yeah, chances are small that Lance didn‘t make a complete fool out of himself.

But then again, Keith didn‘t seem annoyed. He stayed with Lance for the whole dinner, even asked him if they should get some ice cream for dessert, and talked and laughed and listened to Lance with more patience than he ever thought Keith has. 

The evening was amazing. So amazing that Lance really didn‘t want it to end. 

But they still have the early shift tomorrow, work to do, flights to operate, and he loves his job, don‘t get him wrong…

But he‘s praying for a call from crewing that their flights are cancelled tomorrow, and that they can rest in the hotel until further notice. 

Life doesn‘t play that way, though. And he also doesn‘t want to deal with all the grumpy passengers that are on the rescue flights. Honestly, that‘s the worst.

So, with a sigh, Lance finally pushes himself from the door of his hotel room where he leaned against on like a lovestruck teenager since Keith closed his own door. The bumblebees in hist stomach are still buzzing, but he ignores them to get on with his night. 

He drops his shirt on the floor next to his bag before taking off his pants. The cheap napkin from the ice cream parlor rustles in his pockets, forcing the image of Keith‘s frowning while trying to decide on which flavor he should take into his brain. And the way he tried to hide a short brain freeze when the ice cream started melting in his cone and he licked too much at once. 

The bees are picking up again. Damn it, what is wrong with him?

Lance ponders about that the whole time he does his night routine. Staring at himself in the mirror, taking in the slight tan from wandering around all day, since they only had one midrange flight in the morning. A little stain on his arm when his own ice cream dripped down, right above his tattoo of that little airplane on the inside of his wrist that he got years ago. 

But the answer just won‘t come to his mind. 

With a sigh Lance lets himself fall face first into his pillow. The scent of laundry detergent and stale air whirls around him, but with the pleasant buzz of red wine in his veins he doesn‘t really care. Something else is shooting through his head instead; pink lips, dark bangs, indigo eyes that almost look purple, and the way the corners of his mouth quirk up whenever he lets out an amused huff. Not both corners, just one, never a real smile, which makes the ones he shows to Lance even more precious.

Those stupid bees moving south makes Lance jerk up. Wide eyed and breathless he is balancing himself on his bed, staring at the fluffy white pillow while the realization hits him. 

„Shit,“ he whispers, slumping back down with a groan. 

After all that happened today, he is just too tired to do anything else but lay there in his misery. The drowsiness is slowly creeping up on him, the eventful day mixed with the sweet wine and… 

That. It‘s just too much for Lance. Even his mind is too tired to fight the soft prickling in his stomach, or the images of a certain first officer flashing through his head. 

Another groan leaves his lips, another curse whispered into the pillow as Lance‘s intoxicated brain slowly but surely spreads a single, clear thought out in front of him like a blanket on green grass. It looks pretty, simple, nice; but it makes his stomach roll into itself and his heart drop with the weight of a thousand aircrafts. 

_ I like Keith. _

„Shit.“


	11. Chapter 11

A mind reader would be helpful right now. Maybe even a fortune teller. Or at least someone who knows what the fuck is going on. Because Keith is totally and completely lost. 

Why, you ask yourself?

Because Lance hasn‘t spoken a single goddamn word with him, and that for the entire day. 

Not at their check-in at five in the morning, when Keith was still riding on that wave of happiness from the great time they had last evening. 

Not during their usual brief, where Keith desperately wanted Lance to look at him, just once, really quick so he could somehow convey how damn great he feels.

Not during their ride to the airport, where Lance sat right across from him, not in the security, where Keith was right behind him, not during the walk towards the aircraft, where they were so close their hands almost touched, not during the usual checks of the aircraft, not during one of the hundreds of times Lance had to come to the flight deck, and especially not when Keith tried to start a fucking conversation with him. 

_ What. The. Fuck. _

Did he say something wrong? Did he do something wrong? Or maybe was it something he didn‘t do? Was it because Keith didn‘t make a move? But then Lance shouldn‘t ignore him, right? Or did Keith accidentally made a move and scared Lance off? Maybe Lance doesn‘t even like him that way, or he was just trying to be polite yesterday by getting dinner with him…

Did Keith really managed to screw up before something even started?

And why is he so disappointed about that?

„I can literally hear your thoughts,“ Shiro whispers from his left, watching Keith watch the boarding with a big frown. „Please, at least try to look less threatening to our passengers. Or do we have to close the door?“

„Shut up.“ Keith turns in his chair, ignoring Shiro‘s stupid sigh and Lance‘s stupid frame at the cockpit door, and his stupid friendly ‚good mornings‘ and ‚welcomes‘, and his stupid smile that he‘s giving everyone but Keith. 

Stupid. 

Although his heart would like to have a few words with his brain for thinking stuff like that. Because Lance is not stupid. He‘s nice. Really nice. Nicer than anyone Keith met before, and the first person to actually spark that interest of-

Huh?

Of what, exactly?

Where did that thought stray to? What exactly did his brain silence before his heart could speak it out?

„Did something happen between you two?“ Shiro asks finally, a question that must have burned on his lips since they met up in the lobby this morning. 

Keith looks at him. Doesn‘t know what to say. Doesn‘t even know where to start or what to explain, because he‘s asking himself the same fucking question, has been asking himself that for the past five hours. 

„I-“ He starts, stops himself, opens his mouth to start again, but honestly? What should he say? „I don‘t know.“ 

He‘s aware that Shiro‘s still watching him, even if his own eyes are moving outside the window to his left, taking in their ramp agent talking to some ground staff, laughing at something the other just said, having a much better time than Keith right now. 

He doesn‘t feel like laughing at all. He feels like lying in his bed and cuddling with Kosmo until he can forget whatever interest he started to harvest for Lance. 

„Stop brooding.”

Shiro nudges his side, his encouraging smile doing little to help Keith’s bad mood. Little, but something. Because Keith can’t really stay in this stupid whole with his brother by his side.

„I’m not brooding,” he offers, ignoring the huff and eyeroll that he gets in return and shuffles through his paperwork instead.

Lance is gone for now, tending to the business class and getting his own paperwork ready. Keith would love to spare a few more glances at him, but the stone deep in his chest prevents him from turning around. 

The fear is too big to get ignored by him. 

Ignored by the first person that sparked that interest of-

Of...

„Should we start the preflight brief?” Shiro saves him this time. Flight plans in his hands, maps open on his tablet, route points in their computers – Keith can’t say ‘no’ to that.

No, really. He can’t say ‘no’. His actual work is still a very present thing that needs to happen after all.

Keith takes a deep breath. Lets it out again. Bites his lip and the settling disappointment in his throat. 

„Yeah.”

Keith concentrates on his work from now on. 

_ Stupid.  _


	12. Chapter 12

The message is send out right after their briefing in the lobby.

_ code red AR-ATBR from BAL 7:35z _

After not – or barely – talking to Keith – no, wait, he really didn’t talk to him at all, huh? God, why is he so shitty? Keith must hate him now... - Lance really needs some emotional support or a good kick in the butt from someone he can trust about this topic. 

Thankfully, the support and the butt-kick are both on an early shift today. 

After arriving at their home base in Arus after their first flight, Lance waits until the cleaning staff is done with the cabin and Shiro is out to flirt with Curtis to silently escape the aircraft as well. He‘s not getting far by all means, can‘t even get far because he‘s still not able to talk to Keith, which includes telling him – or not telling him - that he‘s going to see his friends for some emotional butt-kicking^ during their ninety minute break on ground. 

So, he‘s sitting on the steps attached to the aircraft, knowing fully well that Keith must know that he is out here, and hopes that he‘s not spying from the flight deck. At least the airport is too loud to hear anything from that distance, and unless Keith is proficient in lip-reading, Lance should be safe. 

“Okay, what did you break again?”

What he‘s not safe from is Pidge‘s grumpy mood though. 

Lance waits until Pidge and Hunk round the corner and sit next to Lance on the steps, taking the coffee he offers them without any complaint. “Seriously,“ he huffs, referring to Pidge‘s jab at him, „that was one time! And it wasn’t even important!”

Hunk smiles at him, taking a sip from the business class coffee and humming in delight. “I don’t know, your crew seat is kinda important.” 

To be fair, Lance didn‘t break the seat, it was already broken. The previous crew just failed to inform him, which lead to him sitting on his butt after a particular rough landing, the cushion of the seat under him, and his colleague in the rear laughing his ass off. 

“I didn’t break anything,“ he says, smiling at the memory. It‘s been five years after all, and even if the story hasn‘t died down yet, the shame about it definitely has. 

Hunk takes another sip. “Why the message then?”

“Because I need to talk to you.”

“You need to talk to us,“ Pidge echoes. “Lance, why the fuck are you writing ‘code red’ instead of a simple ‘I need to talk to you’ text?” She takes a sip as well, her voice getting less and less grumpy the more caffeine she gets in her blood. She actually sounds somewhat concerned, which is understandable, to be honest. The last ‚code red‘ Lance sent them was right before a long period of binging on ice cream and sad movies began. 

Lance bites his lip and stops himself from giving into the urge to look towards the flight deck window behind him. “Because it’s important.” He takes a deep breath, hoping that the engine of another aircraft starting right next to them drowns out every word to anyone outside their little bubble. “And it can’t wait because I have another overnight tonight and I’m stuck with the first officer I’m crushing on, had a kind of date with and stopped talking to, until tomorrow.”

Hunk almost drops his coffee, looking at him with wide eyes and gaping like fish. “Oh.” 

“Oh, damn.” Even Pidge is surprised for once, which hardly ever happens. She even saw the last ‚code red’ coming down weeks before it actually happened.

But this… this is different. Nothing they would have expected to happen in the next five years or so. Not even Lance expected it. 

“Wait,“ Pidge turns and looks at the flight deck windows, squinting her eyes to see who‘s in there right now. „Shiro’s the captain, right?” She waits for Lance‘s nod, both knowing that Shiro is currently in the airside canteen flirting his butt stupid with a certain ramp agent. „Isn‘t that first officer his brother?“

Lance looks at her. „How do you know that?“

„Rumors,“ Pidge shrugs, „and a certain amount of stalking.“

“Pidge.” Hunk is hiding a smile behind his coffee cup, only that the small cup barely hides anything. He clears his throat and looks towards Lance instead. “Why did you stop talking to him?”

“I panicked,“ Lance answers ruefully. He watches an Marmora aircraft take off in the distance, marveling at the magic of those short moments between accelerating and actual lifting from the ground, before he gets back to the topic. “You know, after...” He trails off. 

“Yeah, we get it.” Pidge leans forward to get a better look at Lance. “Is that first officer like... you know?”

“No, he’s completely different.” Lance smiles to himself, but it quickly fades again. “And, I don’t know. We started with a fight, but we apologized, and then we had a flight together with my family and he did so much for the kids.” He starts picking on the outer layer of his plastic coffee cup. “I really liked the time we spent together.”

“Isn’t that answer enough?”

“I’m still scared.” He sighs.

“Well,“ Hunk speaks up after a moment, „if you don’t ask him out, I will do it for you.”While Lance shots up in surprise, Hunk takes the opportunity to press his empty cup into Lance‘s free hand and get up with a huff. “I still need to get you back for asking Shay out for me after all.”

Oh, he almost forgot about that promise from old times. “You wouldn’t-” 

“You have one week.” Hunk takes his phone from his pocket and checks the messages that pop up as soon as he turns on his data. Seems like they got actual work to do. “So, if there’s nothing to fix here, we should go. See you tomorrow for dinner?”

He waits for Lance‘s nod before turning on his heels, greeting the ramp agent that‘s approaching Lance with the passenger lists for the next flight with a smile, and waves towards Pidge to wrap it up as well. 

Pidge downs the rest of her coffee in one gulp, places the cup on the stairs and gives Lance a firm pat on the shoulder. “You shouldn’t have texted him if you didn’t expect a kick in the butt.” 

Lance chuckles. “I think I kinda needed that though.” 

”Well, good luck then, I guess.” She walks a few steps before shouting over her shoulder, “And don’t worry. We will kill him if he tries the same shit as your ex.”

Lance chuckles, the weight of the last day lifting from his shoulders. He gets up as well, ignoring the confused look from the ramp agent and hoping that the rest of the day will be just as easy as the butt-kick just now. 


	13. Chapter 13

Keith is not moping. He is not sitting alone in his room after carefully avoiding Lance the whole day. Well, he is sitting alone in his room, painfully sober for the feelings going through his head right now, but it‘s too late to drink. He‘s not moping anyway. 

Nope. 

No one is moping in this room.

Especially not him.

A knock on his door makes him groan. He doesn‘t want to see anyone right now. The person outside knocks again, and again, and Keith keeps ignoring it until he hears Shiro‘s muffled voice calling his name. 

Another groan leaves his lips before Keith gets up. He opens the door and lets Shiro in, sitting back on his bed without a word after making sure the door is closed and the ‚do not disturb‘ sign is still hanging on his door handle where he placed it a few hours ago. 

Shiro sits on the bed next to him, not saying anything for a while, only staring at muted TV. It‘s airing some kind of romantic comedy, but Keith is not in the mood to watch shit like this and getting reminded that he wants shit like this but can‘t have shit like this because Lance apparently hates him. 

Why else would Lance ignore him for almost two full days before talking to him again like nothing happened?

Shiro sighs next to him, getting Keith‘s attention. That sigh sounds way too heavy to be considered anything but unhappy. Now that he thinks about it, Shiro has been in the same, dim mood Keith has been ever since he got back from his stupid date with Curtis today.

„Why are you moping?“ Keith asks after another few minutes of silence. 

Shiro huffs, a sad smile playing on his lips. „Same reason as you.“

„I‘m not moping.“ Keith crosses his arms over his chest and holds Shiro‘s stare. He ignores the disbelieving, almost mocking look in them. „Am not,“ he repeats, but he already knows that he‘s lying to both of them. „I am only disappointed in myself.“

Shiro raises an eyebrow. „Because of Lance?“ He doesn‘t wait for Keith‘s answer, just lays back on the bed, staring at the ceiling instead of Keith now. „He was talking to you again today.“

„Only about flight stuff,“ Keith murmurs, lying down next to him. „He doesn‘t like me back.“

Shiro chuckles, but it sounds strained, hollow, fake. He sigh again, closes his eyes. „He likes you as much as Curtis doesn‘t like me.“

„Wait, what?“ Keith leans up on his elbows, furring his brows in confusion. „But Curtis likes you!“

„I hoped so, but he has a boyfriend.“ Shiro‘s eyes move to Keith. He looks really tired. „He told me today that he‘s been dating a guy. And then he told me literally everything about that guy.“

„That‘s hard.“

He shrugs. Chuckles again, and it pains Keith that all his brother can muster are those humorless laughs. „Yeah, but you know what‘s worse?“ He takes a shaky breath. „That guy is a teacher,“ he starts, counting the points on his fingers, „moved from Marmora City to Arus, has an ex that is a pilot, and-“

„Wait,“ Keith interrupts, because that sounds familiar. Too familiar. He stares at Shiro in shook. „No.“

„… and his name is Adam,“ Shiro finishes. „I asked for a picture, because I couldn‘t believe it.“ He runs his hand over his face and rubs his eyes. He seems almost too tired.

„Your ex is dating your crush.“ Keith‘s brain is too fried from that information to care about being careful. „Holy shit.“ He drops back on the bed with a huff. „What are you going to do?“

„Nothing.“ Shiro shrugs again, and Keith knows exactly what he means. „I don‘t want to ruin it for them.“ 

The happiness of the guy he likes and the guy he used to like is just too damn important to him. 

It‘s like…

Keith laughs, long, drawn out, hollow. Just like his next breath. „We‘re a bunch, huh?“ 

Shiro stares at him, disbelieving. „Lance likes you.“

A snort. „Yeah, sure.“ If he did, why would he act that way? Why would he be nice to him, then ignore him, and then be normal again? People who like each other don‘t do that, right? Keith didn‘t do that, right? 

This time Shiro sits up, turning to take a long, considering look at Keith. It‘s almost visible how the gears turn in his head, how he thinks about what to say to change Keith‘s mind. „It‘s really not my place to tell, but I heard a rumor that the last guy Lance dated got fired from Altea.“

Okay? „That is supposed to help me feel better?“

Shiro rolls his eyes. „I mean,“ and he gives him his famous ‚dad-look‘, „if Allura fired him, it probably means that it was a really bad break up.“ 

How is that information going to help Keith exac- Wait. He straightens. „Oh.“ His brain racks into action, going through the memories of the past few days with the speed of an aircraft that is about to take off. „You mean-“

Shiro claps Keith‘s shoulder, squeezing it one time and using it to push himself off the bed. „He‘s probably just being careful.“ With a few strides he‘s at the door, but he turns around before he opens it. „It‘s obvious that he likes you.“ 

With that, Keith is left alone to think some more. 


	14. Chapter 14

It‘s the last day of their trip, and they have already completed sector two of three. And what did Lance do besides tending to the business class and chatting with his FA’s in the aft galley? 

Cursing drunk Lance from the past for not dropping Keith‘s number on his phone when he had the chance to a few, long days ago.

Why was he so stupid?

He needs that number. Really needs that number. For several reasons. 

One: He is a fool.

Two: He is a chicken.

Three: He wants that promised date!

Four: He is a fool and a chicken. But he really wants that date.

At least to say sorry for the whole mess he created. 

Yesterday he had to suffer through a whole day off Keith ignoring him, even after he tried to talk to him again. He guesses it‘s the punishment for ignoring Keith in the first place, even though he had a good reason for it!

Well, he didn‘t. 

But Keith has. 

And Lance curses himself again.

They are currently on the ground, cabin cleaned, checks done, just waiting for the check-in of their next flight to close so they can start boarding. 

His FA‘s are eating early lunch in the rear, talking animatedly about some passenger that forgot his shoes on another flight, and laughing every now and then. Lance is in the front, preparing the breakfast for the flight deck, since they have so much time on ground that they can actually enjoy it in between work for once. 

Coffee in one hand, black with no sugar, and phone in his other, Lance‘s phone of course, he hides in the forward galley like a fool. Waiting for a chance to talk to Keith. Alone. 

But Shiro already left the flight deck for an outside chat earlier when Lance was busy taking care of a problem with one of the toilets in the rear, and Lance missed his chance like the fool he is. 

Sure, the toilet problem could have waited until after Lance got to talk to Keith, but…

Yeah, he chickened out. Big time. And he curses past-Lance another time, only that all those Lance‘s are himself, making him look like an even bigger fool for anyone who can read minds. 

He hopes that no one like that is near him. He really doesn‘t need that shit on top of the pile of shit he already collected. 

Gosh, why is he so dumb?

And how is he going to fix this?

The universe seems to have mercy with him though, when it gives him a second (or third? Fourth? Final?) chance, in form of Shiro getting out of the flight deck, striking up a quick conversation with lance before walking to towards the rear to have a chat with the FA‘s there.

Lance can see them all pocketing their phones while Shiro strides through the aircraft, can hear the nonchalant ‚How are you‘ and ‚Do you have any plans for the rest of the day‘ and ignores them while he steals himself into the flight deck. 

Only to freeze right away, because the moment he turns around, he can see Keith‘s confused look on him. While his brain is out cold, the drink in his hands is about to scorch his fingertips away, and he quickly holds it up. 

„Coffee?“

Keith raises an eyebrow but accepts it without further question, reaching around his seat so Lance can give it to him through the gap between his backrest and the window. They’re not supposed to hand out drinks over the console in the middle after all. „Thanks.“

That’s all he says, turning around again, but Lance can’t, won’t leave just like that. „Hey, Keith?“ he starts, the words tumbling out of his mouth way too fast, but it gets Keith to turn around again, both eyebrows raised now. „I- I wanted to ask you something.“

„Something‘s wrong with the aircraft?“ Keith’s already halfway out of his seat, making Lance take a step back.

„What? N-no!“ Lance stutters out, cursing himself again. Why can’t he just speak normally? „It‘s uhm…“ Oh, right. Because he really can’t screw this up. Universe and last chance, all that shit. 

He takes a deep breath, calming himself by going through the words he practiced in his head before. It’s easy. Just a few words. He can do- „You‘re going out with Kosmo tomorrow?“ Oh, he did it.

And Keith just shrugs. „Yeah. He‘s a dog after all.“ He seems to be oblivious to Lance’s struggle, which is truly a blessing. Right? „Kinda need to go out with him every day.“

That makes sense. That’s why Lance asked. Because next he ca- „Can I come?“ Oh! He’s on a run. He can actually do this! „With you… to meet Kosmo… you know?“ He did it! Sure, with stutters and looking like a fool yet again, but the questions is out there. 

Now all Keith has to do is to decline. 

Wait, what?

No, wait! That’s not what- 

„Sure.“ Keith smiles at him. Smiles! And Lance has to lean himself against the flight deck door so he doesn’t fall over, because that sight- Gosh, only now he realizes how much he missed that smile the past two days! And Keith even tops it with his next words. „I‘ll text you, yeah?“

Lance swoons. „Yeah.” He tumbles out of the flight deck as if he has something else to do, a huge smile on his own lips that he probably won’t be able to hide for the rest of the day. 

It’s a date. Kind of. 


	15. Chapter 15

The sun is out, and not a single cloud is obscuring its beautiful rays in the sky. Keith closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and enjoys the warmth on his face and the coolness from the wall he’s leaning on.

He’s waiting in front of his apartment complex for his driver; the same person that went with him and Kosmo to the dog part yesterday to spend the whole afternoon together. 

It was amazing, so much fun, and honestly the best time Keith had in awhile. Especially after their little... fight? Fall out? Whatever it was what they had. 

But now it’s fine; they’re fine, and Keith really can’t wait to spend another afternoon with Lance. 

A car stops in front of him. It’s compact and light blue, and Keith has to bite down a smile. Almost all his accessories, from his wallet to his keychain, share the same color. Keith should have known that his car would be the same.

He opens the passenger door and gets inside before looking at Lance. A bright smile welcomes him, and Keith can’t stop himself from smiling as well. “Hey there.”

“Hey.” 

Keith takes his time to sneak a few glances at Lance while he’s driving, takes in his windswept hair and the fitting clothes he’s wearing. Marvels at the exposed collar bone and the little bump on his wrist right above where his watch sits. 

Gosh, he looks so good. 

He forces his eyes away when Lance takes a look into the mirror to Keith’s side, and with that a look at him as well. Keith doesn’t need Lance to know how far gone he already is, seriously. “Where are we going?” he asks to redirect his own thoughts. 

Lance grins at him. “It’s a surprise.” He sets the indicator for the highway. 

“So,” Keith tries again after a while, “you won’t tell me?”

Lance chuckles, his smile widening impossibly. “That’s what ‘surprise’ means!” 

He doesn’t elaborate for the rest of the ride, so Keith doesn’t press. He is almost confident that Lance won’t drop him into cold water and do something he really hates, or sucks at. Like... conversations, or bowling, or swimming, or-

When Lance parks in front of a small building, Keith isn’t so sure anymore. “What is this?”

He gets an eye roll. A hand pointing to a huge sign in front of him. A teasing smile. “An airfield.”

Keith can see that much. “Yeah, okay.” He fails to force down a smile. The fact that Lance is actually joking with him is still something Keith has to get used to. Especially how happy it makes him. “I know what this is,” he answers instead. “Why are we here?”

Lance opens the door of his car, steps outside, and places himself next to the sign. It reads ‘Scenic Flights and Flight School’ in pretty, golden letters, and together with a couple of small planes standing on the asphalt a few hundred feet away, Keith really starts to hope that Lance won’t say it.

“To fly.”

He said it. 

Fuck.

It’s the most nonchalant voice Keith ever heard, and it sends him straight down a hill of questions. The first thing that actually gets out of his mouth is a somewhat kind reminder though. “Lance,” Keith sighs, “I can’t fly small aircrafts.”

Lance actually snorts. It’s ugly and loud and so, so cute that Keith stops worrying for a second. “I know you can't.” He shakes his head, and his grin, gosh- “I would let you sit behind one of our aircrafts without a proper license.”

Keith’s thoughts come to a halt. “Wait-” What the- Lance didn’t just say- “Our aircrafts?”

“Yep.” Lance takes his hand, which literally short-circuits Keith’s brain a second time. That and the information he’s trying to swallow. “Let me show you around,” he says while pulling Keith along.

Guiding him towards a small hanger, the first of three, Lance starts explaining. “Here we have the aircrafts that my dad and my brother Luis usually use. This one is a Cessna 207 ‘Stationair 8’, and the one over there a Cessna 208 ‘Grand Caravan.” He points to the aircrafts respectively, giving Keith barely enough time to look at them before ushering him along.

“We only own Cessna’s by the way. We had a Comco Ikarus C42 as well, but one of our students wanted it so bad that we sold it to her.” They round the first two planes and get to the ones parked behind them. “Oh, and my sisters are saving up for a Breezer Sport, because they like the design so much.” 

Keith watches Lance while he speaks, takes in the enthusiasm Lance explains with, as well as the confidence behind each word he says. He must know a lot about these planes, but then again...

“I prefer our Cessna’s though.”

Then again, Lance is- 

“Look,” he points towards a group of similar looking planes, “those are our 172 ‘Skyhawks’. We have three of them, since we usually take them for scenic flights. My mom and dad usually do those, but sometimes Luis, Rachel and I help them out if they have classes to teach for their flight students.”

Keith is speechless. 

“And this here-” Lance concludes his little tour, “this is my baby. A Cessna 162 ‘Skycatcher’. I call her Blue.” He walks up the plane and touches its nose with a fondness Keith recognizes from the day before, where he played with Kosmo. “My dad lets me park her here instead of one of the rental hangars, so I let him fly with her sometimes.” Lance’s voice is quiet in the big hangar, but it rings loud in Keith’s head. 

Because the coin finally drops. And the realization hits Keith dead on. 

Lance is-

“A pilot,” Keith breathes out, each word sounding wrong but oddly right at the same time. “You’re a pilot.”

“You got it.” Lance turns towards Keith, the biggest, most beautiful smile Keith has seen so far on him on his lips. It’s rounded off by a playful spark in his eyes, which also happens to take Keith’s breath away. 

“Ready for take-off?”


	16. Chapter 16

The route they take on today’s flight is one of Lance’s favorites. Usually, when he does the scenic flights instead of his family, he takes this exact route. 

After the start towards the north-east, he climbs up to five thousand feet and stays on that level for ten or twenty miles, depending on the incoming traffic of the nearby airport of Altea. When he’s far enough away from it, he turns towards the mountains in the east, getting a nice view over the lakes and rivers nestled in between a few, small cities and nature preserves. 

Right before the mountains he has to climb to eight thousand feet to keep the noise from his aircraft under control, and enough distance between the mountain tops and his little plane. 

They are halfway over the first lake when Lance looks to his right. Keith’s eyes are big, almost sparkling like the eyes of his niblings whenever Lance takes them with him. It must be Keith’s first flight in a small plane, he realizes with a smile. 

He interrupts the silence between them by clearing his throat. „I believe you have questions.“

„A couple, yeah,” Keith huffs. He turns towards Lance, but not before his eyes move over the control panel between them. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last. „How far can this thing go?“ he asks after a while. 

That’s an easy one. „About 350 nautical miles.“ 

„And how high?“

Lance snorts. „You sound like a kid.“ It’s been a while since he gave that tour, but the answers still come to him as if he learned them yesterday. „A little less than 15000 feet, but that‘s only what the stats say. I never went that high. You don‘t really get the clearance for those levels because the airport of Altea is so close and, you know, without extra oxygen.“

„Makes sense.“ Keith nods. Stays quiet for a while, watching Lance steer with curiosity. It’s not much different from an airbus, but then again it is. Lance eyes him from the side, watches how Keith bites his lip, releases it, bites it again until it’s red and he finally thinks of another question. „How long have you been flying?“

Lance has to force his eyes forward, hoping that the heat in his cheeks is not from a heavy blush. „I got my license when I was 18.” He remembers it with a smile. “My abuela started this flight school though, so I‘ve been on planes since I was a kid.“

Keith hums. Watches Lance instead of the controls or the landscape now. „Does anyone in the company know?“ 

„Not really,” Lance laughs, though it’s a bit forced. He’s usually a pretty open person, but this secret was always too sore for him to share with anyone but his family and the very closest friends. 

„Lance?“ Keith is a lot quieter now, his voice careful, like talking with a kid, or a scared animal. From the side Lance can see that Keith’s eyebrows are drawn together, and he’s fidgeting with the zipper of his leather jacket. „Why aren‘t you flying for Altea?“ he breathes out. 

Lance answers just as quiet. „Lots of reasons.“ He bites the inside of his cheeks to avoid a frown, though he can feel the atmosphere get heavy nevertheless.

Keith sighs. „Sorry, I didn‘t mean to pry.“

„No, it‘s okay. It‘s just a long story.“ Lance takes a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts, to keep it short. He never really talked about it to anyone but his sister Veronica, and it took him quite some time to get this far. 

„I applied for the pilot training,“ he starts, „but back then Altea didn‘t allow people from rivaling companies to start there. And they saw my families‘ flight school as a rivaling company.“

Keith is listening closely to him, that childlike curiosity in his eyes again. It sends thrills through Lance‘s stomach that Keith really seems to be interested in this story. In his life. Not just to be polite, like a colleague would be. 

„I didn‘t apply for other airlines because they had their training centers all around the country, and I didn‘t want to leave my family behind. But since I didn‘t want to do anything outside of flying, I started as a flight attendant.“ He shrugs. „And after a while I started to like it.“

Lance starts to smile again. It‘s a real smile, one that‘s filled with happy things about his job. „It‘s different in the cabin than in the flight deck. The crew, the passengers, the work. Sure, I get paid much less,“ he huffs, „but at least I don‘t have to pay off a 170k dollar loan for flight training.“

Keith makes a face that says it all. „That‘s true…“ 

„When Allura took over the base management for pilots, she offered me a job, but by then I was already cabin manager, and really happy with that position. Even if it took a while to understand that I‘m not worthless, just because I earn less than you guys.“

Keith sits up in his seat, quick enough for his shoulder straps to lock him in place. „You‘re not worthless!“

He means it. Really means it. Lance knows that he means it, and even if he didn‘t learn by it by himself a couple of years ago, he is sure that with the sincerity in Keith‘s eyes, he would be convinced now. At least a little bit. 

„I know, I know.“ He can‘t stop a chuckle, or that thankfulness spreading through his body. It makes his stomach tingle, his heart feel full, his smile turn shy. It‘s a good feeling to know that Keith got his back like this. „I‘m sure you heard about my ex.“

„Yeah,“ Keith murmurs. „Shiro told me.“ 

Lance nods to himself. Of course Shiro did. „That guy was a dick,“ he says straight out. „And he used the ‚I‘m a pilot, you‘re just an FA‘-shit too many times.“ 

Keith frowns. „That‘s... shit.“

„It is.“ Lance shrugs. „But I‘m over it.“ And because he‘s sure Keith heard about  _ that _ as well, he adds, „Allura helped a lot.“

„Did she really kick him out?“ Another curious question, and Lance is glad that Keith seems to lose his carefulness around him. 

„Yeah. But not because of me. He came drunk to work.”

Keith‘s frown deepens. „What an idiot.“

It pulls another laugh out of Lance. „I know, right?“ He grins towards Keith, content with the whirlwind of emotions in his heart. It feels good to feel that way. Exciting and new, and not scary at all. Something he hasn‘t felt in a long, long time.

It also feels good to tease Keith. „You want to try flying this thing?“

Keith snorts. Rolls his eyes at Lance. Looks at him like Lance is joking. „I can‘t-“

„Oh, sure you can. There is your control stick.“ Lance points it out with a grin, which grows even wider when he sees Keith‘s horrified look. 

„Lance, wait-“

„Nope.“ He lets his own control go knowing fully well that Keith is ready to jump in. „You have control.“


	17. Chapter 17

Lance lands the plane on the small runway without any problem, and Keith has to force down the urge to clap. He is not a father of three trying to teach his kids a lesson in being embarrassing by clapping after the landing.

No matter how impressed Keith is, he will not clap. 

He claps. Just once, maybe twice. Maybe twice.

Lance beams like the sun, so it’s worth it. 

He drives the planes off the runway and towards the first hangar where it was parked in the first place. Turns off the engine, gets out to put the brake blocks back on before opening the door for Keith like a gentleman. He even helps Keith out of the plane by offering his hand, which is really unnecessary, but cute at the same time. 

Keith does not blush, by the way. Just like he didn’t clap.

When the plane is parked and taken care off, Lance shows Keith the rest of the flight school. The other two hangars with the planes that belong to other people, the building next to the parking lot that holds the office and a few classrooms, and, most importantly, the little restaurant right next to the office. 

Even though it’s in the middle of the week, it’s bustling. Almost all tables are occupied by all kinds of people. Business men, mothers with children, some people that look like students here and there. “Wow, what is this place?”

Lance grins. “One of the best restaurants in Altea.” He takes Keith’s hand and leads them inside, greeting the two waiters as he takes the only free table in the corner of the room, right next to a big window that faces the runway.

They get a menu and order some drinks from one of the waiters, a woman with dark skin and black, curly hair that looks familiar. Her yellow apron matches the decoration of the whole restaurant, and she has a smile on her lips that make Keith feel at home immediately. 

He leans back in his seat when the woman is gone, and takes a long look over the runway outside. Today is already perfect, but he feels like he could do a little more to make it even better. Like... you know, like... 

Keith gulps. Like small talk. 

He takes a steadying breath before getting Lance’s attention by clearing his throat. “It’s your turn to ask questions.” 

“Really?” Lance raises an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t like talking about yourself,” he huffs with a small smile. 

Well. “I don’t.” Keith really doesn’t. “But it’s only fair.” He scratches the back of his neck and looks to at the table to flee Lance’s questioning gaze. He really hates small talk. But with Lance it’s different. “I don’t mind if it’s you.”

With Lance it’s always different. 

Lance drops the menu on the table and leans forward, the smile on his lips growing wider. He takes a second to think, and hums lowly before finally speaking up. “Why are you a pilot?” He bites his lip when Keith raises an eyebrow at him. It’s not a question he suspected. “Like,” Lance adds, “is there a very emotional backstory behind your life? Or is it your childhood dream? Did Shiro adopt you and turned your family into a pilot family like my abuela did?”

Keith snorts, thinks back to his High School times, smiles at the memories. “I did get adopted by Shiro, somehow...” 

“Wait.” Lance straightens. “Really?” 

Keith nods. “Yeah. I met Shiro when he was doing some kind of advertisement for the flight training program of Marmora Air,” he recounts briefly. “He took our class to a flight simulator and I aced the landing.”

Lance sits even straighter, raising an eyebrow again. “First try?” 

“First try.” Keith grins now, the memory clear in his head as if it had been yesterday. “And then,” he chuckles, “then I stole Shiro’s car.”

Lance mouth falls open and his smile disappears, only to come back with a disbelieving huff. “Dude.” 

Yeah, Keith expected that reaction. He’s glad that he doesn’t have any hard feelings about that time anymore. “That, and several other things, got me kicked out of my foster home, so Shiro and his ex, Adam, took mercy on me and let me stay at their place.” He takes a sip of his drink, bites his lip when he has to smile too much from the memories. “Oh, and they told me they won’t sue me for stealing their car as long as I finish High School.” 

Lance leans back, eyeing Keith. “They threatened you?” 

It’s a joke, and they both know it. 

It makes it easier for Keith to continue. “Well, Adam did, but that was what I needed,” he admits. “I did fuck up a couple more times, but they didn’t give up on me. Got me a chance to apply for Marmora Air, helped me with the tests, put in a good word for me when I got into a fight with one of the other trainees.” 

Lance hums into his drink. “That sounds nice.” 

They get interrupted by the familiar waitress again. Lance places his order and gives Keith a few recommendations. In the end he goes for some fried rice and another glass of homemade ice tea. 

“Are you still in contact with Adam?”

The question comes out of the blue. “Yeah, we talk to each other every now and then, though,” Keith frowns at the table, “he failed to inform me that he moved to Altea.” 

“He did?” 

“Yeah.” Keith sighs. “He and Shiro broke up because Shiro moved here in the first place.”

There is a drawn-out silence between them. Keith looks at the runway outside while he lets Lance process it. He ignores that he’s getting stared at, ignores the blue eyes on him until it’s too much to ignore. His meets Lance’s gaze, watches him figure out his next question and gather the courage to actually spill it.

“So,” Lance now frowns as well, “are they planning on getting back together?”

Keith shrugs. “Probably not.” 

Lance hums again. Takes another moment to stare at Keith while thinking. He comes to a conclusion, and shares it with a smile. “It sounds like you’re keeping something from me.” 

Smart boy. “I am.” Keith matches his smile. Leans forward on the table to lower his voice a bit. “But if I tell you, you have to help me with something.” 

Lance leans forward as well, voice just as low. “Do you want to steal Shiro’s car again?”

“Not really,” Keith chuckles lowly. 

Lance laughs as well. “I wouldn’t mind,” he adds, “I saw his Porsche. You saw my car.” 

“You have a plane,” Keith deadpans. 

“And I wouldn’t trade her for anything.” Lance pouts for a second, though he replaces it with a smile just as quick. “But Keith. A Porsche.”

Keith rolls his eyes. Shakes his head with a smile. Feels like he’s been doing that all day already. It’s easy to talk with Lance, easy to joke with him, easy just to sit together, have some lunch and trade stories. 

The food comes, and they lean back to make space for the waitress. Keith’s fried rice looks amazing, just like the pasta Lance ordered. He gets distracted for a second, though he remembers what they talked about when he sees Lance’s mischievous smile again. “Do you want to hear the full story now, or not?” 

“I do, I do,” Lance laughs. He takes a bite of his food, hums in delight before getting back to Keith. “Shoot.”


	18. Chapter 18

The plan is simple. 

Even though they worked hours on it, meeting up on their free days for coffee or walks to the park with Kosmo, the plan they thought of in the end is pretty simple. 

Making it work isn’t though.

It contains a huge amount of organization, sweet talking, and bribing; everything Keith apparently sucks at. Thankfully, it’s also everything Lance is good at. It’s his job to do those things in this exact order after all, so applying it to his private life, or rather, to Shiro’s private life is not that hard.

Now, almost two weeks later, they are finally getting around to it. With Keith and Lance bribing half of the base to get into the same crew as Shiro, and then bribing half of the airport to help them get a little tour for a special passenger, accompanied by a special ramp agent on their aircraft, everything is set.

They just landed in Arus after staying the night in Olkarion. The flight was calm and everything went according to plan, from the parking position of the aircraft to the ramp agent greeting them. After making sure that everything is set, Lance hides with the other FA’s in the rear galley, waiting for Keith to join them. 

Like planned, Keith gets out of the flight deck to ‘make himself some coffee’, waiting for Curtis to enter the aircraft with Adam in tow before booking for the rear galley; far away from what is about to happen. 

Lance can hear the surprise in Shiro’s voice upon seeing Curtis visiting him loud and clear from his hiding spot in the rear galley. Like him, the rest of the FA’s are hiding behind the two toilets, watching with big eyes what is about to happen. Keith is right behind him, his chest pressed against Lance’s back and his hand on his arm to keep Lance from running away.

As surprised as Shiro is to see Curtis, as shocked he is about Adam. 

And Lance is suddenly not so sure about this plan anymore. 

After a few moments, Shiro gets out of the flight deck and into the forward galley. He looks around until his eyes fall onto Keith and Lance. He takes a few steps into the cabin until he realizes that no one from the crew is in the front, and he can’t leave the flight deck unsupervised, even if Curtis is there. Especially while Adam is there. 

Shiro takes the interphone from the forward galley and makes a direct PA over the speakers. “Lance, do you mind coming to the flight deck?” 

A shiver runs down Lance’s spine. Oh damn, he sounds really pissed. 

But, you know, if Shiro is already asking like this... Lance takes the interphone from the rear. “Yes, I do mind.” 

“Okay.” Shiro takes a deep breath, and if it wasn’t for Keith holding him in place right now, Lance would already be sinking to the floor out of fear. With a calm smile, Shiro continues. „Let me rephrase it: Come to the flight deck, immediately.” 

Yeah, okay. Lance is really scared right now. But A squeeze of Keith’s hand is keeping him in check. “Nope.” “Before you say anything, remember that I am best friends with Allura.” 

Everyone outside the aircraft is probably able to hear the sigh Shiro lets out, and it sends shivers down Lance’s spine. Even with the worst passenger on board, he has never seen him so pissed. “Lance,” Shiro tries again, hiding his irritation behind another smile. “Didn’t you always want to drive a Porsche?”

Oh?

“Don’t,” Keith hisses from his side, regarding Lance with a threatening stare. 

He’s slowly starting to regret stepping into the game. Though, Shiro placed a really good offer on the table, something Lance really can’t resist. “But Keith!” he whines lowly, ignoring the chuckle from his FA’s. “A Porsche!”

Shiro smirks from the front.

Keith looks between the two of them before rolling his eyes. “If you give in to that Porsche, I’ll never take you out on my motorcycle.”

“You,” Lance breaths out, “have a motorcycle.” He waits for Keith’s nod, stares a second too long at that winning smile before turning towards the front. Shiro’s smile vanished by now, and his eyes move from Lance to Keith while his eyebrows furrow. Lance has to hide his excited grin. “I’ve got informed that Keith owns a motorcycle.”

Shiro stomps with his foot. “Dammit.”

Wow. It’s probably the first time that Lance heard Shiro swear.

Keith takes the interphone out of Lance’s hands. “You have an hour,” he informs Shiro, grinning at him before adding, “and we didn’t seal the bars, so you can’t leave this aircraft.” 

Without a lock at the bar trolleys, everyone could just enter the aircraft and steal something. Sure, they only have some microwavable food and a couple of drink options on board, with the most expensive thing being the forty-dollar wine for the business class, but it’s still a regulation that one of them has to stay on board. 

And that one is Shiro. 

Keith places the interphone back into its place and cups his hands in front of his mouth to scream through the cabin instead. “Good luck.” He turns before he can see Shiro giving him the finger, and shoos the FA’s out of the rear door. “Let’s go.”

They look at him as if he was crazy, before looking at Lance for help. “But-”

Keith interrupts them. “That’s an order.” He closes the rear door from the outside and starts walking down the stairs, only stopping when he realizes the rest of the crew is not following him. “I’ll treat you to some coffee in the terminal,” he offers when no one is moving. 

No one is moving, so Lance tries to bid a bit higher. “And cake,” Lance adds with a smile, which finally gets the group going. 

They pass Keith on the stairs, and walk towards the terminal with their busy chatter. When Lance joins his side, Keith simply sighs, shakes his head, but gives in at the end. “... and cake,” he echoes. 

He takes another look back at the aircraft, probably wondering what Shiro is up to now. Lance watches him for a second before reaching out, taking Keith’s hand and tugging him along. “Come on,” he urged, “the others are waiting.” 

Keith lets himself be dragged over the ramp, not letting go of Lance’s hand even as they reach the others. 

Not like Lance is letting go himself. It feels too good after all, galley talk be damned. 


	19. Chapter 19

Keith pockets his phone the moment he steps into the crew room. He quickly checks in on one of the computers before walking a few rooms over where a quiet room for airport standbys and a semi-comfortable couch are waiting for him. 

He spent half of the night listening to Shiro cry about his date with Adam and Curtis today, until Keith simply couldn‘t take it anymore. He promised Shiro to give him Kosmo so they can go to a dog park or something, and hung up on him right after, turning off his phone and even his doorbell to get a few hours of undisturbed sleep before his airport standby starts. 

Now his phone is running hot from all the anxious messages Shiro is sending him, so many Keith even missed a couple of texts from Lance. Stupid Shiro and his stupid brain thinking that his stupid almost-boyfriends will reject him after asking him out on a date in the first place. 

Keith sighs, and enters the quiet room, only to stop in the doorframe. He looks at James who is laying on one of the couches, and frowns. „Why are you here?“

James gives him an unimpressed look. „I‘m on airport standby,“ he explains shortly, but not without adding, „idiot.“

„Yeah,“ Keith rolls his eyes, „but your standby should have ended now.“ He checks the clock on his phone, just to be sure, but yeah, it‘s after 11am, where the usual early airport standby ends and the late shift takes over. Hence why James should be gone by now. Unless… „Are you stalking m-“

„I‘m not stalking you!“ James hisses while sitting up, totally ignoring the part where they are in the quiet room and should be quiet. Thankfully, no one else is around. The rest of the crew that should be on airport standby now is probably in the other restroom. 

James sighs. „I got called from my home standby at five, so I have to sit around for two more hours until I can go.“ 

Ah, that makes sense. Though, that also means that Keith won‘t be alone in this room for the next two hours, or at least with someone he hates and who hates him in return. He turns around and points towards the hallway. „I‘ll go sit somewhere else.“

„No, wait.“ This time James jumps up, holding out his hand to stop Keith. Only that there are about ten feet and a couch between them. „I wanted to talk to you.“ 

Keith raises an eyebrow. „About what?“

„About your boyfriend.“ The shit eating grin on James‘ face is what got him punched in flight school all those years ago, and Keith feels a twitch in his hand that begs him to do the same again, but the fact that he is older and wiser and really doesn‘t want to get kicked out of the company leaves his hand by his side. 

Though his mouth hasn‘t caught up yet. „Shut up.“ With a frown he turns around and sets out to leave, but this time James crossed the distance and couch between them and places a hand on Keith‘s shoulder to stop him. 

„Come on, everyone knows by now, even First Officers,“ he says while shaking Keith‘s shoulder, „and you know we hear rumors last.“ 

„There is nothing to talk about,“ Keith murmurs, trying to shake James‘ hand off. 

James gets the hint and puts his hand his pockets instead, leaning forward while grinning like the jerk he is. „You guys are not together?“ He turns around and walks around the couch, sitting back down before speaking up. „Then I can-“

In future conversations, Keith will deny that he growls. „Keep your hands off of him!“ He will not deny that punching James sounds suddenly so much better than keeping his job. 

„Ha!“ James points at Keith accusingly. „So you are together.“ He leans back, that stupid smug grin still on his face, and he picks up his phone to type something. „I never thought someone like Lance would go out with you.“ 

The phone in Keith‘s pocket vibrates, and one look at James confirms that that bastard just texted the news in the First Officer chat someone created for their company. 

Again. Punching. Sound so much better. 

Keith ignores the several other messages that make his phone vibrate; or at least he tries to. He crosses his arms over his chest, watching James with suspicion. „Why?“ He already knows the answer, but he wants James to say it anyway. 

James huffs. „Because you are an asshole.“ He watches Keith roll his eyes and laughs so loud that Keith is sure they‘ll both get kicked out of the empty quiet room in a few moments. „But,“ James adds when he finally calms down, „I guess you‘re not so bad anymore.“

Keith furrows his eyebrows. „Thank you?“ He watches James warily for a second, waiting for the other to add something stupid. It doesn‘t come. „You‘re still-“

„I don‘t want to hear it,“ James interrupts, knowing fully well that Keith was about to say something mean. He nods towards the hallway, putting on his stupid grin again. „Allura is sitting only a few offices over.“ 

„You realize that I am dating her best friend?“ Keith leans against the doorframe with a winning smile. Two people can play this ‚who does a better shit-eating grin‘-game after all. 

„Shit.“ James‘ smile drops. „I better watch out around your stupid ass. Now get your ass on this couch and relax, you‘ve got seven more hours to sit around and do nothing.“ He pats on the place next to him and picks up his phone that he placed on the armrest. „You wanna watch Netflix? There is a documentary about air crashes.“

Keith shakes his head, disbelieving. „You watch that shit?“

„You don‘t?“

„Of course I do.“ Keith huffs. „Move over, idiot.“ 


	20. Chapter 20

Allura‘s cheshire-cat grin gives her intention away before she even speaks up. Lance hasn‘t even closed the door to her office when she starts her interrogation. „I heard about your date in the terminal.” 

Lance sighs. The moment he got the text from Allura that she wants to see him in her office, he knew that she would ask him about that. It‘s not like the whole base has already asked him about that exact topic. 

„That was not a date,“ he explains, just like he did roughly two hundred times before. „We went for coffee with the whole crew.”

Allura hums, places her elbows on the table and crosses her fingers so she can rest her head on top of them. She nods towards the empty chair in front of her table, as well as the two cups of coffee she prepared for them, waiting for Lance to sit and take a sip before speaking up again. „Shiro was missing, though.” 

“Shiro,“ Lance says quickly, „was on a mission.”

„Yeah,“ she shakes her head, „I really don’t want to talk about that.“ She leans back in her chair and looks out of the window to her right, where she got a perfect view on the tower of Altea’s airport and the few offices that hold most of its operational staff. „It’s a miracle that you didn’t get caught.”

„There was nothing to get caught for,“ Lance protests, following her gaze before taking another sip. She put some cinnamon in his coffee, just the way he prefer to drink it at home as well. „We got all the permissions needed for doing this.”

„You didn’t get Shiro’s permission.”

Lance grins. „Shiro was the Captain called from standby,“ he points out. „The original Captain already gave his permission. And,“ he adds while holding up a finger, „Shiro could have kicked them out anytime.”

Allura eyes him with a amused smile, knowing fully well that everything Lance just said was a huge grey zone, and that usually, people would get kicked out for doing stuff like that. Thankfully, Lance is friends with a base Captain, and Shiro wasn‘t too angry for doing him dirty like that.

„Did your plan at least work?” 

„Yeah.” Lance smiles to himself, still happy that everything went well for the trio. „Keith told me they are dating now, all three of them.”

„Perfect.“ Allura claps her hands together and leans over the table, lowering her voice as if her office wasn‘t sound proof and everyone at the airport could hear them. „Now tell me about Keith.”

Lance groans, knowing fully well that sooner or later she would ask this. He hoped for later though. „No.” 

„Excuse you,“ Allura protests. „I am your best friend and base Captain.” She uses her best pout, the one she uses on her father and Coran all the time – the one that always works on them. Lance knows her long enough to be able to resist that. Especially since she‘s not a simple friend anymore, but like a sister to him. 

That‘s exactly why he tries to keep Keith off her radar for a bit longer though. 

„I am a Cabin Manager, not a pilot,” Lance points out, as if that would help him against Allura. 

„I am also the next CEO,“ Allura grins. Check-mate, „so you better tell me all about your date.” 

Lance is the one pouting now, though he has no choice but to give in. „Drinking coffee in the terminal with three other people was not a date,“ he says, taking another sip. His drink is lukewarm now, but even cold it will still taste amazing. Allura has some kind of magic she puts in her coffee. 

The same goes for this conversation. Lance is really not happy getting interrogated like that, but the excitement about everything that happened the past few weeks, everything that includes Keith and the feelings he‘s evoking in Lance‘s heart; all that is too much to keep inside him. He just has to say it. 

„Taking him on a flight with Blue,“ he grins at Allura‘s gasps, „definitely was a date though.”

„You-” Allura jumps from her seat. „You didn’t!”

Lance‘s grin grows impossible wider, and he gets up as well, readying himself for what‘s to come. „I did,“ he affirms. 

„Oh, my goodness!” Allura claps her hands over her mouth. „It’s official!” She quickly rounds the table and takes Lance‘s hand, dragging him from his seat and jumping up and down with one of the biggest smiles he ever saw on her. „You never took anyone out flying!”

Lance laughs with her. „I know, I know!” 

„That means it’s serious!” she says as she calms down a little bit, at least enough to stop her jumping. Poor people on the floor under them must be annoyed at the noise already, but Allura doesn‘t care. She leans against her table, the smile turning mischievous. „That means I don’t have to fire him. I’m so glad,“ she sighs. 

Lance rolls his eyes. „Yeah, about that.” He gives her a stern look. „Stop spreading that rumor.”

„Why?“ Allura shrugs. „It kept stupid people off your throat. And,“ she leans forward and places a hand on her chin as if she was thinking, „Keith didn’t mind, did he?”

“He didn’t.“ Lance‘s smile appears again, and this time it‘s accompanied by a blush, which makes Allura screech again. It‘s really nice to have friends that get excited for him like that. 

Even nicer though is the reason they get excited for. 


	21. Chapter 21

It‘s a sunny day, little clouds, a light breeze, no rain. The perfect day for a date. 

The perfect day for a date with Lance, to be exact. Their first official date, at least the first they planned as one, even though it took them awhile to get here. 

Their duty-plans overlapped the past couple of weeks. Whenever Lance was at home, Keith was on a trip and the other way around. The only time they met was in the crew room last week while Keith‘s shift started and Lance‘s shift ended, and they had barely enough time to say ‚Hello‘ in the corner of the hallway without anyone noticing. 

Because you don‘t flirt in the middle of the crew room unless you want to spread even more rumors.

Keith really doesn‘t want that. 

Their short meeting also gave them some time to look at each other‘s duty plans and find out that they are both available today. 

Well, not really. 

Technically, they are both working, stuck on late standbys. Keith didn’t want to risk his luck, so he convinced Lance to bring his uniform and an overnight bag, place it in the trunk of Keith‘s car and drive with him to his favorite place his neighborhood.

Café Altea is near the park Keith takes Kosmo all the time. It’s standby-proof, has a parking lot nearby and is only a fifteen minute drive from the airport. Plus, it‘s really cute, and the perfect location to take your crush to. 

With two coffees and a selection of little cakes to share in front of them, the day is perfect. Lance is sitting next to Keith on a little bench outside the café. He‘s nibbling at a piece of cheesecake, something Keith recommended to him, and judging from the permanent smile, he seems to really enjoy himself. 

Keith is glad. He‘s not the best with dates, and it‘s really hard to top Lance‘s idea of taking him on a scenic flight with his own aircraft. This little café has to do for now. Bigger, more extravagant dates, he tells himself, will come later. 

„You know,“ Lance says with a rudely full mouth, munching on the seconds piece of cheesecake. „I didn‘t think you‘d like cute cafés like this.“ He waves around with his hands, pointing towards the general direction of the whole place around them. 

And sure, Keith is not the type to keep white tulips in wooden flower pots on his table, or match the table cloths with his napkins, or even go as far and buy plates and coffee cups that are decorated with golden swirls and pictures or stars. But that doesn‘t mean that he dislikes to have this kind of kitsch around him every now and then, especially when he wants to make Lance feel comfortable. 

„They have great cake,“ Keith says instead, poking into a strawberry from his fruit cake and eating it with delight. „Plus I figured you like this kind of stuff.“ He eats another berry before adding, „At least I hoped so.“

„You were right.“ Lance finishes his cake and takes a few, long sips of his coffee. 

The silence between them is comfortable, something Keith didn‘t feel in… ever? Sure, he can do nothing with Shiro all day long, but he‘s like a brother to him, not someone Keith would like to-

Date? Kiss? Marry? Grow old together? 

All of the above? 

Keith shakes his head. Those thoughts might go a bit too far for their first, official date. He should probably save that for the third date. Yeah.

„I was wondering,“ Lance interrupts Keith‘s thoughts, jerking him back from wherever he just went to the real life, „if you are trying to impress me?“ He finishes his question by raising an eyebrow at Keith, his smile turning mischievous before he hides it behind his coffee cup. 

„Maybe.“ Keith bites his lip. „Is it working?“

„It is,“ Lance chuckles and leans towards Keith. Their shoulders brush together and their faces so close that if Lance would turn a little bit-

Oh, he turns. His eyes are still gleaming from laughing, his lips still wide from his smile, his whole being so dazzling and beautiful that Keith is stunned for a second. 

How did he get so lucky?

And then Keith‘s world turns over, because Lance is looking in his eyes as if he could read Keith‘s mind, every single thought that is jumping through his head, especially with him so close. Especially with Lance‘s eyes moving down to Keith’s lips next, just for a split second, but Keith gets it. Sees it. Realize what Lance is telling him. 

That look! 

That‘s a fucking sign!

Keith might suck at general social cues, but he gets that. That sign. That clearance to go, to dive in, take off, lean a bit forward and watch Lance follow, until not only their shoulders but their arms are flush together, and Keith needs to turn his body a little bit to get closer to Lance, closer to those lips he yearns to taste, closer to that heat he yearns to feel until they are only an inch apart, an inch that‘s easy to overcome, easy to push through, easy to-

Keith‘s phone vibrating loudly on the wooden table makes them jump. It plops the little bubble they were in, breaks their moment, lets Keith fall out of his own, personal heaven and back into the harsh reality. 

„I think you should get that,“ Lance chuckles, leaning back in his seat and nodding towards Keith‘s phone. 

No!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Nooo!

Keith should get something else. He should get kissed. Get those lips. Get the taste of cheesecake from Lance‘s tongue and sweet coffee from his lips. 

Keith should gets something completely else than this call. 

And yet he has no chance but pick up his phone and press the little, green button that‘s mocking him right in his face. 

A chipper voice greets him. „Hello, Keith! It‘s your crew contact!“ The guy at the other end of the line doesn‘t know that Keith is thinking about murder right now, so he just continues without even waiting for Keith to answer. „We got an overnight in Puig for you, and before that a quick trip to Taujeer, check-in in 90 minutes.“ 

Keith sighs. Great. It‘s not only a quick flight but a whole trip separating him from Lance and keeping him from that kiss that was just about to happen. 

He rubs his eyes and waits until the guy is finished with the rest of the trip details, stuff Keith doesn‘t really want to know, stuff Keith can‘t remember anyway with his head full of the ‚what if‘s from the previous moment. „Okay,“ he answers right before hanging up, „yeah, I‘ll be there in 90 minutes. Bye.“

When he drops his phone back on the table, Lance is tilting his head while giving Keith a sympathetic smile. „Crew contact?“ 

„Yeah, overnight in Puig,“ Keith murmurs, cursing heaven and hell and everything in between for ruining this perfect opportunity. „I gotta go.“ 

That also means that Lance has to come with him, because all his stuff is in Keith‘s car, which gives Keith at least twenty more minutes with Lance, and a plate of little cakes they have to take with them. 

They are getting ready to pay when Lance‘s phone starts ringing, surprising both of them. A look at the screen shows it‘s their crew contact as well, so Lance quickly picks up. 

„Hello?“ He looks at Keith apologetically before leaning back in his seat, only to sit straight up again with a surprised face. „Oh, really now?“ He sends a smile in Keith‘s direction, wiggling his eyebrows as if Keith knows what he means. 

He does not know what Lance means. 

Lance ignores his questioning gaze. „No, no,“ he answers instead, „that‘s perfect!“ He listens while humming a few times, nodding along to whatever the person at the other end is telling him about work. Seems to be a trip for him as well, judging from the length of the explanations. 

A waiter gets to their table and Keith takes the opportunity to pay, swapping Lance‘s hand away when he reaches for his wallet as well. He grins and Lance‘s sour expression, tips the waiter and asks for the remaining cakes to be bagged, so Lance can at least take them to work, maybe share with his crew later on. 

After what feels like hours, which has probably just been a minute or so, Lance hangs up and regards Keith with a frown. „You didn‘t have to pay for me.“ 

„I wanted to though.“ Keith watches how Lance rolls his eyes at him, but the motion falls short when a big smile appears on his lips again. Keith can‘t help but ask. „What got you so happy?“

„It seems,“ Lance grins, leaning a bit closer to Keith to take his hand and squeeze it, „that we will continue our date in Puig tonight.“ 

With Lance’s hand in his, it takes Keith’s brain a second to connect the dots. „Wait. We‘re on the same flight?“ 

Lance hums. „We got very lucky today.“ He takes the paper bag with cakes the waiter placed on their table, thanking him before getting up and dragging Keith along. „Come on, let’s get our stuff.“ He start walking towards Keith‘s car, pulling Keith along with him. His hand is so warm in his own, fitting together like two pieces of a puzzle. „We can‘t be late for our check-in.“

„We have so much time though,“ Keith points out. „And we barely need thirty minutes to get ready.“

Lance turns to smirk at him with a secret, his eyes breaking Keith‘s gaze and moving down to-

Oh. 

„We should use the rest of the time wisely, shouldn‘t we?“ Lance teases. He laughs at Keith‘s expression, intertwines their fingers and pulls Keith to his side. Their shoulders brush together, and the heat from before starts to pulse between them again. „Come on.“ 

Lance leads, and Keith follows, to wherever he wants to take them. 

To the airport, most probably, but Keith is fine with that. The promise of a flight with Lance makes his heart jump in his chest and take off into the sky. 

Keith is ready to go. And with Lance by his side, he knows that there will be only happy landings. 

**Author's Note:**

> Check out [my Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/wertdifferenz.art/) and get a lot more stories every week!
> 
> Here is [my Carrd](https://wertdifferenz.carrd.co/) with all my Social Media links!


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